All Grown Up
by XyKPfan
Summary: Kim and Ron are adults and with a large family. A new foe has his heart set on bringing the Stoppables to their doom. Join Kim, Ron, and their children as the two heroes experience their lives as adults and try to defeat this enemy before he defeats them.
1. A Typical Morning

A/N: Hey everybody. Here's another book story that's been nagging at me for a while and I just can't get it out of my head. So here's the little light-hearted fic I promised. It's not as light as my _Quaint Afternoon_ fic, but it's definitely lighter than the _Who Framed Ronald Stoppable One._ So here it is. I hope you enjoy it.

This takes place a few years the incident. Anyways, I'll just shut up now and let you read since I know you're anxious.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you _All Grown Up_.

And now for the disclaimer

I do not own Kim Possible. Don't ask me who owns it because you know. And if you don't, it's the Disney Corp. Bottom line is I do _not_. I repeat. _Not_ own Kim Possible. So put away all the lawsuits and cases. There's no need to sue me. I did nothing wrong.

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Justin lazily picked up an apple from the fruit basket and tossed it in the air before running it under the faucet in the kitchen sink.

"Morning, Justy."

Justin turned to see his younger brother and sister entering the kitchen.

"Morning, JT, CC."

"So, what are we having for breakfast?"

"Whatever you make," Justin said as he took a bite out of his apple.

Jason crossed his arms.

"That's foul, JJ."

"What? I don't live here anymore, remember?"

"You could still make us something to eat."

"You guys are eleven years old. You can fix yourself something to eat in the morning."

Jason still sat there with his arms crossed, but his twin got up. She already knew Justin wasn't gonna fix them anything. Shoot, he lived thirty-five minutes away on in an apartment off campus. He probably ate already. Why would he make something again?

"So, how's college life treating you, JJ?" Serenity asked as she reached for a box of cereal, struggling.

Justin smiled.

"Great, actually. I got some good news for Mom and Dad. Where are they?"

"Upstairs. Should be down in a few minutes," Serenity answered, still struggling with to reach for the cereal. Justin reached over with one hand and took the box down, handing it to his sister.

She didn't take it.

"What?"

"Why did you do that? I almost had it."

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did."

"You didn't, CC. You really didn't," Jason said as he took out some orange juice out of the fridge.

"Why do you guys always have to team up on me like that? You make me feel so short."

"You are short."

Serenity glared up at her older brother.

"Well, you are."

Serenity crossed her arms.

"Look, do you want the cereal or not?"

Justin felt his sister snatch the box out of his hand and walk back over to her seat. Shaking his head, he took another bite out of his apple, before throwing the rest in the trash.

"Where's, AJ?"

"In the bathroom."

Justin rolled his eyes.

"Why did I even ask?"

"Don't make fun just because she spends thirty minutes in the bathroom," Serenity said as she started pouring her cereal in a bowl.

"Ceeg, you'll never convince me that it's right to spend fifteen minutes in a bathroom, let alone thirty. Weren't you guys doing a science experiment about conserving?"

"Were, but you think anybody in this house listens," Jason said as he picked up an orange.

"Mom and Dad listen."

"Mom and Dad don't count."

"What do you mean they don't count?"

"They're our parents. They're supposed to listen to their children. The other five members couldn't care less about what we do."

Justin shook his head.

"You know, I still say Mama had to many of yah'll. Eight kids is just too many."

"You can't fault Mommy for that, JJ. Most of us weren't even planned."

"Correction, every single one of you after AJ weren't planned."

"Excuse you?" they said in unison.

"You guys weren't. Hey, I wasn't even planned. Mom and Dad had me like right after they graduated college. And I mean _right_ after. Like, a few months after. AJ was planned three years later. You two come along as a surprise. Cindy and Veronica came from an anniversary. And Allison and Dahlia, well…I don't even know. All I know is that there's too many of you kids running around in this house."

Jason and Serenity looked their brother with a raised eyebrow. They exchanged glances before looking back at him once more.

"What?"

"Uh, Justy, how exactly do you know all of that?"

Justin shrugged.

"I asked?"

"You asked Mom and Dad?" Jason asked, still not convinced.

"Yeah. Unlike you two, I'm not afraid to talk to my parents about sex."

"Justin!" they shouted as they shot up out of their seats.

"I'm not. And it's really not a big deal. I'm tired of people making such a big deal about it. Now a days, you can't even mention the word sex without getting an accusing finger and a few stares."

"Because it's disgusting."

"Says you."

Their eyes widened at their brother's statement.

"Ewww!"

"What?"

"You mean, you… and Amber…did…"

"What?! Eww, No! Eww, no! We didn't! Eww! My God, what is wrong with you two?"

"Well, you just said…"

"I said that's what you thought. You guys thought sex was disgusting. I never said Amber and I did anything. I'm only nineteen years old. I'm not ready for something like that. Eww! Damn, get your minds out of the gutter."

"Didn't Mom and Dad lose their virginity at nineteen?"

"I'm not Mom or Dad! Damn, what is wrong with you two?"

Serenity shrugged her shoulders.

"_Sorry_, didn't know you were so sensitive."

Justin shook his head.

"I'm not comfortable with this."

"I thought you said you didn't have a problem talking about sex?"

"Yes, Jason. I don't have a problem talking about sex with Mom and Dad. I can't do that with you two."

"What's wrong with us?" Serenity asked, slightly offended.

"For one thing Ceeg, you guys take it to a completely new level."

"I'm gonna need more to go on than that."

"Okay then," he said as he leaned up against the counter, "If I said Amber was coming over my apartment to study with me, what would be the first thing that comes to your mind?"

"You guys would be making out," Jason said matter-of-factly.

"See, you'd say that, but Mom would ask _'what are you studying?'_"

"Okay, give us another one."

"If I were to say Amber's sleeping over my house, what would you say?"

The two preteens faces instantly changed from intrigued to pure disgusted as they cringed.

"Eww!"

"See! That's exactly the point I'm trying to make. You guys immediately assume that we're gonna be having sex. Dad would have just asked _'why'_"

"You just said she was sleeping with you."

"No, I didn't Jason. I said she was coming over my house to sleep over. I never said I slept with her."

The twins looked at each shared a glance before shaking from a brief shiver and turning their attention back to their breakfast.

Justin shook his head.

"You guys are disgusting. I tell you, preteens have the sickest minds of anybody."

Justin heard footsteps coming down the stairs and turned to see his mother entering the kitchen. He found it strange that she wasn't wearing her usual business suit but a purple short-sleeved shirt and sleek jogging pants.

"Going somewhere, Mom?"

Kim gave her oldest son a kiss on the cheek before walking over to the fruit bowl and picking up an orange.

"Mission. There's been a robbery at the Beverly Hills Mall. The owner of the store wants your father and I to investigate."

"Don't you have a conference this morning? Can't the police handle that?"

"Try telling that to the owner," she said as she wrapped the orange in a paper towel.

"Oh, Mom. I gotta tell you something."

"Hold up, JJ. I'm telling Mom something first," Anne-Jean said as she entered the kitchen.

"No way, I was here first."

"So? I'm here now."

"No, I mean I was born first."

"Your point? First is worst. Second is best."

Justin shook his head.

"Mom, I gotta tell you something…"

"Oh, please, Justin. Nobody wants to hear about your first chest hair," Anne-Jean said as she approached him.

"You're just upset because you have more than me."

Anne-Jean gawked at her brother.

"I can't believe you!"

"What? What? What you gonna do? You can't touch me."

"Alright you two, that's enough," Kim said, "Annie, you go first."

"Why does she get to go first?"

"Because I'm smarter, better, and prettier."

Justin shook his head he took up a banana.

"Pretty? Yeah, you're pretty. If you got anymore prettier I'd have to pay a Blobfish not to sue you for taking away its title."

"Justin…" Kim warned threateningly.

Justin shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention back to his banana. Jason and Serenity were snickering, but quickly sobered up once they saw their older sister glaring at them.

"What did you want to tell me, Annie?"

Anne-Jean shook her head as she turned back to her mother.

"Well, I'm gonna be taking the PSAT in a few weeks, and Mrs. Carlson said that if I get a high score, there's a good chance of me getting into a high elite or even and Ivy League College, like Harvard!"

"That's wonderful, dear."

"Bout as wonderful as hearing fingers nails scrapping across a chalk board."

"Justin."

"Sorry, Mom," he said as he threw the rest of his banana in the trash.

Kim shook her head as she turned her attention back to her daughter.

"That's wonderful news, sweetie."

"Thanks, Mom. I'm gonna be studying like crazy for it too. For the next two weeks, no reading, no playing, no swimming, no friends. Nothing."

"That shouldn't be a problem. It's no different from how you usually live your life," Justin said with a smirk.

Anne-Jean shot her brother a cold stare. Kim just shook her head.

"Okay, Justin. What was it you wanted to tell me?"

"Thank you, Mom," he said as he shot his sister a look, "Well, like I was saying before Ms. Priss here interrupted me…"

"Up yours, Justin."

"Annie!"

"You heard her, right Mom? You heard what she said? Okay. Like I was saying, I've got some great news."

"What is it, Justin?" Kim asked as she got a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"Well, I finally have my major picked out."

Kim raised her eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I decided that I'm gonna major in anesthesiology and become an anesthesiologist. That means after I finish my next two years of college, I can spend the next 4 years in medical school and another year in internship. And since I have over 3 years of residency, I'm covered and all set. All I gotta do is graduate in the next two years."

Kim smiled.

"I'm so proud of you, Justin. That's great."

"Thanks, Mom."

"Like that was so more important than what I had to tell her," Anne-Jean said as leaned up against the counter, her arms crossed.

"It was, AJ. I had news to tell her. You, on the other hand, just restated what was already a fact. You have no life."

"Mom!"

"Stop teasing your sister, Justin," Kim said took her car keys off of the key hook.

"It's my brotherly right, Mom. You can't just take that away."

Kim smiled.

"Justin, can you do me a favor?"

"Anything, Mom."

"Your father and I are gonna be out all day. Right after we return from our mission we're gonna have to go straight to work. And your uncles and grandparents are tied up as well. Can you drop the twins off at school and the babies by Monique and Felix for me please?"

"Sure, Mom. Class doesn't start til one. But which set of twins do you want me to take to Kindergarten?"

Kim gave her son a look.

"Which twins do you think I mean, Justin?"

"I don't know, Mom. You have like three different sets."

"Excuse you, Justin, but Jason and I are eleven. Why would we need to go back to Kindergarten?"

"Yeah, and the other twins are three months old. Who do you think is left, Justin?"

"I don't know, Mr. Know-it-All. Who is left?"

"Alright you two, that's enough."

Jason gave Kim a kiss on the cheek.

"Sorry, Mom. I'll drop the twins off. Don't worry about it."

"Thank you," Kim said as she opened the front door, "Ron, I'll be outside," she called out.

Ron entered the kitchen holding the two newest members of the Stoppable family in his hands.

"I got 'em, Dad," Justin said as he took his sisters from his father.

"Thanks, JJ."

"You know you and Mom had too many kids, Dad."

Anne-Jean smirked.

"What can he say, Justin? He and Mom just couldn't keep their hands off each other."

"AJ."

"What? You know it's true, Daddy. The evidence is all around you."

"She's right, Dad. Ten Stoppables in one home is just too much.

"You have your own apartment."

"I know. That's one down. You still have seven more to go, and lord knows how long it'll be before AJ's out of the house."

Anne-Jean narrowed her eyes at her brother while just Ron shook his head.

"Alright, well, I'll be seeing you."

"Kay, bye, Dad."

"Oh, wait. Did your mother eat something?"

"She took an orange and a bottle of water with her."

Again, Ron shook his head.

"Pass me that container over there will you, AJ."

Anne-Jean walked over to the stove and tossed her father blue container that was on the counter.

"Thanks. I'll go to the restaurant and heat this up. I am so not gonna have another episode of your mother fainting from dehydration," Ron said as he opened the front door.

"See you all later. Oh and JJ, about the twins and the babies…"

"Mom already told me. Don't worry about it, Dad. I'll drop the twins off to school."

Ron smiled.

"Alright. Thanks. See you guys later," Ron said as he exited the house.

"Bye, Dad," Justin said as he shifted the position of the twins in his arms, "AJ, can you hold these two for me for a sec?"

AJ wiped her hands with a paper towel and took her younger sisters from her brother.

"Thanks."

Justin walked over to the fridge and took out a blue mug.

"What's this? Some drink Dad made?"

"I don't know," AJ said as she put the babies in the stroller.

Justin walked over to a cupboard and took out a glass and began pouring the drink in the cup.

"Oh, it's just milk. Why is it in a mug, though," he said as he put the glass to his head.

Anne-Jean smiled.

"Because it's breast milk?"

Justin's eyes widened as he spit lactose filled drink. He rushed over to the sink and began feverishly washing his mouth, causing Jason and Serenity to burst out laughing, and Anne-Jean to snicker.

"I can't believe you actually drank that."

"Shut up!"

"Oh my gosh! I mean, if you find milk in a bottle, isn't it obvious that it's breast milk?"

"Shut up, AJ!"

Anne-Jean's smile widened.

"And you're the one in college."

Justin scowled as wiped his mouth with a paper towel.

"That's not funny, AJ."

"Hey, don't get mad at me. You're the one who was so stupid so as to…"

"God, shut up, AJ! Just shut up!"

Anne-Jean shrugged.

"Fine."

"I don't see what the big deal is. I mean, we all drank that stuff, right?" Serenity said as she put her empty bowl in the sink.

"Exactly. I don't wanna put my mouth where my younger siblings did," Justin said as he spit in the sink again, disgusted with the fact that he actually drank milk that came from his own mother.

"I think you're overreacting, JJ."

"No, I'm not, Jason. Mom doesn't just use the pump. She breast feeds as well. That means I just put my mouth where all of you had put your mouth, with all your nasty saliva and germs."

Jason shrugged.

"Whatever. I personally don't see it as a big deal."

"Well, I do Jase. I just drank milk that came from my own mother."

"We all did, JJ."

"That's beside the point!"

Anne-Jean shook her head.

"Well, now we're gonna have to find some formula since Mr. Big Shot here drank the babies' breakfast."

"Eww! Uh! AJ!"

"Well, you did."

Justin stared angrily at his sister.

"Jason, CC. Here, go in the car," he said as he tossed them the keys to his silver Prius in the street.

"Cool."

"Cin, V. C'mon you two. We're going in the car," Jason called as he and his sister went outside.

A series of footsteps were heard coming down the stairs. After a few seconds, the two six year olds were seen sprinting out the door, their pink and purple backpacks on their back.

Justin stared at his sister.

"Are you done with the jokes, little sis?"

Anne-Jean flicked her hand as she made some formula and poured it into four of the twins' baby bottles.

"Whatever. Here put these in the twins' baby bag. They're gonna start crying in a couple minutes so you might wanna feed them before you drop them off by Aunt Moni and Uncle Felix."

"You don't want a ride?"

"Nah. Jesse's coming by in a few minutes."

"Aww, the lovebirds are walking to school together."

"As if, Justin. We're just friends."

"Uh-huh. That's what Mom and Dad said. Now they've got eight kids under one roof. No, seven. I don't live here anymore."

Anne-Jean shook her head as she walked in the living room and started for the stairs.

"Oh, and uh, AJ? Change your clothes before you leave."

Anne-Jean paused. She turned around to face her brother.

"What?"

"Change your clothes before you leave for school."

"What's wrong with the clothes I have on?"

Justin raised his eyebrow.

"Are you serious? AJ, if you bend over too far, your tail will drop out and you breasts will pop out."

Anne-Jean crossed her arms.

"Please, Justin. This is just a crop top and a mini skirt. It ain't showing off that much."

"Are you serious?"

"Mom and Dad didn't say anything about how I'm dressed."

"Mom never looked at you the whole time she was in the kitchen. And Dad was only concerned about getting Mom something filling to eat."

"Justin, Mom used to dress like this all the time. Why you buggin?"

"For one, Mama's got a man. You don't. She dresses like that for Dad only…"

"Excuse you?"

"Two, Mom never wore the two things together. If she wore a crop top, she'd wear long baggy pants. And if she wore something close to a mini-skirt, she'd wear a long-sleeved shirt. In fact, the closest Mom's ever come to combining the two was either her high school cheerleading outfit, or when she wore that V-neck shirt and skirt the night Jase and CC were conceived."

Anne-Jean cringed.

"I'm gonna be honest with you, AJ. The way you're dressing now, you look like a whore."

Anne-Jean gawked at her brother.

"That's right. I said it—whore. You look cheap. So get your fresh behind upstairs and take those trashy clothes off."

Anne-Jean shook her head.

"Excuse you, Justin. But I'm sixteen years old. I can dress the way I wanna dress."

"You're not past the age of consent yet. I am. Go upstairs and change your clothes."

"No!"

"I don't have a problem dressing you myself. The twins don't have to be in school for another twenty minutes. I got time."

"You wouldn't touch me!"

"I would. I used to dress you all the time, remember? Since you were three. The fact that you're sixteen now doesn't change a thing. You're still my little sister."

"Justin!"

"I'm not playing, AJ. Go upstairs and change."

Anne-Jean was seething. For the umpteenth time her brother was lecturing her about the way she dressed. And this time he called her a whore! How the hell could he call his own sister a whore?

Anne-Jean didn't get a chance to comment on her brother's remark since the front door opened before either one of them could continue the conversation.

"Hey, Stoppables. What's up?" Jesse said as he entered the door. He felt the tension in the room and immediately regretted coming in.

"Oh, uh…am I interrupting something guys? If so, I can just leave."

"No, no. Not at all Jesse," Justin said. He never took his eyes off his sister, "Look, I gotta go drop the twins off at school. Then I gotta drop these two little ones off by my godparents. Can you make sure Ms. Thing over there changes her clothes for me, man?"

Jesse looked past Justin and up at his best friend.

"Change her clothes?"

"Yeah," he turned around to face his sister, "Change the shirt, change the skirt, and change the shoes."

"My shoes?!"

"Yeah. Those wedge heels are too much for you. Being as clumsy as you are, you'd trip and fall and burst that pretty little head of yours opened."

Anne-Jean began grinding her teeth.

"I'm gonna be stopping by at the school later on anyway. So I'd know if she did it or not."

"You're stopping by the school?"

"Yeah, Jess. I'm visiting one of the teachers. You know, Mr. Callous? He has a younger sister who's an anesthetist. I'm hoping I can get a few pointers from her so I'm above my game when the time comes for me to go to medical school."

"Oh."

"I'm counting on you, man."

And with that, Justin took the stroller with his youngest set of sisters and strolled out of the house, leaving Jesse and Anne-Jean standing there alone.

"Oh. Uh. Well…"

"I can't believe him!"

Jesse cringed.

"Hey, hey, AJ. Calm down."

Anne-Jean walked down the steps.

"Do I look like a hoe to you?"

Jesse's eyes widened. He began backing up as Anne-Jean walked closer to him.

"W-What?"

"Do I look like a whore to you?"

Jesse began to get nervous.

"Why are you asking me this?"

"Justin said I'm dressed like a hoe. Do I look like a whore to you?!"

"Um, AJ. C-Can you back up a bit?" he asked one he realized Anne-Jean had backed him up into a wall.

"Will you answer me, Jesse?!"

"No, you don't look like whore."

"Thank you!" Anne-Jean said as she began walking away. Jesse gave a sigh of relief.

"I know I don't look like no damn hoe. I don't know what the hell Justin was talking about."

"You don't look like a whore, AJ. But I kinda agree with your brother."

"What?!" she screamed as she spun around to face him.

"Don't get me wrong, you don't look like a hoe, or a slut, or a tramp, or anything. I don't consider what you're wearing to be trashy. But you are a bit overdressed for school."

"What do you man, _overdressed_?"

"I mean, I don't see why you're dressed the way you are for school. I don't really have a problem with it since I'm used to it by now."

"Used to what?" Anne-Jean said as she crossed her arms. She was really getting irritated by what Jesse was saying. He was taking Justin's side. But he was _her_ best friend! Wasn't he supposed to stand by her side no matter what?

Jesse shook his head.

"Don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about what?"

"Look, why don't you just put on that long-sleeved black shirt and green skirt of yours?"

"What's wrong with what I have on?"

"No offense, AJ, but I don't think you'd get away with wearing that."

"Wearing what?"

"C'mon, AJ. You know better than anybody else what you'd be doing if you went to school like that. You are like so close to breaking the Student Code of Conduct. Plus, what do you think Mr. Barkin would say?"

Anne-Jean's furious face turned into one that was panic-stricken.

"I mean, all you guys complain about is Mr. Barkin. How Mr. Barkin always yells at you. How Mr. Barkin is always out to get you. How he…"

"Okay, okay! I get it! I'll go change! Sheesh!" she said as she stomped up the stairs. She didn't see it, but Jesse was absolutely beaming at what he just did.

He crossed his arms and smirked.

Man was he good!

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A/N: And there's the introduction folks! Hope you all enjoyed it so far.

I know what you guys are wondering. Eight kids! What the hell? But trust me. You'll understand it better once the story spreads out. So here they are as they appear in this story:

Justin James "JJ, Justy" Stoppable—oldest brother—19—college—Sophomore

Anne-Jean "AJ, Annie" Stoppable—oldest sister—16—high school—Junior

Jason Taylor "JT, Jase" Stoppable—brother in first set of twins—11—Fifth Grade

Serenity "CC" Stoppable—sister in first set of twins—11—Fifth Grade

Cindy Marie "CM, Cin" Stoppable—first sister in second set of twins—6—Kindergarten

Veronica "V, VC" Stoppable—second sister in second set of twins—6—Kindergarten

Allison Christine "Ally, AC" Stoppable—first sister in third set of twins—three months

Dahlia Janna "D, DJ" Stoppable—second sister in third set of twins—three months

Whew, that's a lot. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story so far. Oh and just for the record, if there's any confusion about who Amber is, she's Justin's girlfriend. Just thought I'd clear that up.

Anyway, I got some work to do.

Don't forget to review. Love you all! And don't forget to Keep on Rocking Everyone!

XyKPfan


	2. Random Discussions

"And now, he's coming to school to visit me. I can't believe…"

"AJ, please. You've been talking your brother for the past three hours. Can we please talk about something else?"

"Okay, Jesse."

"Thank you."

"It's just…he gets on my nerves so much! Arg! Sometimes I just wanna take his big know-it-all college brain and just…"

"AJ!"

"Okay, okay. Jesse. I'll stop."

Jesse exhaled loudly as he took the remaining books from his locker and proceeded on go to the lunchroom. Anne-Jean had been whining and complaining about Justin ever since they got to school. It was sheer will that kept him from punching his friend squarely in the jaw. He loved her, he really did. But sometimes he just felt like putting his hours spent in the gym and testing them out on her.

Jesse looked over to the table where he and Anne-Jean usually sat. He saw a group of other people situated there and walked over to join them.

"Hey guys," he said as he and Anne-Jean sat across from the group.

There were four other people sitting at the table. There was Angel Rivera, their raven-haired Latino friend. Abigail Renton, their godparents' daughter. Johnnie Dacey, their energetic homosexual friend. And to their surprise, Amber Bailey, Justin's girlfriend.

"Hey, Jesse. Hey, AJ. What kept you?"

"This one," Jesse said pointing to his best friend, "She kept giving monologues about how JJ's unfair and controlling and blah, blah, blah."

"Aww, c'mon, AJ. Justin's not that bad," Amber said taking a sip of her cola.

"Says you. What are you doing here anyway, Amber? You don't go to this school anymore."

Amber smiled.

"I came to support Justin while he went to go talk to that former teacher's sister. You know, to get some pointers about being an anesthesiologist and to see what he can expect in the future?"

"He's here?!"

"Yeah. He's talking with the anesthetist nurse right now and they wanted a one-on-one. So I decided to hang here until he was ready to leave. I thought he told you that he was coming already?"

"He did, but…I wasn't expecting him to come so soon."

"His class for today begins at one, AJ. He had to come earlier so that he and I had enough time to make it back."

"I know, but it's only been two mods."

"And it's eleven thirty two right now."

"And your brother's coming in at ten o' clock," Johnnie said as he pointed towards the strawberry-blonde man wearing a sleek black sports jersey and blue jeans enter the lunch room. He situated himself right next to Amber. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

"Hey guys," he said as he looked over the group. He spotted Anne-Jean and looked her over twice.

"Hmm, nice. Glad to see you took my advice."

"Advice?!"

He looked over at Jesse.

"Thanks, man. You did a good job."

"Nah, I didn't really do anything. All it took was a little convincing."

"Hold up, Justin," Anne-Jean said as she stood up, "What do you mean I took your advice? You didn't give me advice! You practically demanded that I change my clothes before you dressed me yourself!"

"Whoa, whoa, back up," Angel said as she looked over at Justin, "You were gonna dress Annie here if she didn't change her clothes?"

"Damn, right. She looked trashy."

"I did not!"

"You looked hoochie."

"I did not!"

"She looked like she was ready to sell herself."

Anne-Jean gasped.

"Wow Justin…"

"You see the things he calls me?"

"What? I'm being honest with you, AJ. That tight-ass skirt and huggy shirt you had on? If you took one more step, everything would have dropped out and everyone would have had a full show to see."

"Please, Justin! It was just a crop top and mini skirt! You're seriously overreacting. Just like you overreacted to the breast milk incident this morning."

"Breast milk incident?" Jesse asked, slightly intrigued. Likewise, ever other person at the table seemed to be interested, all those except Justin, who kept staring at his sister the moment she brought it up.

A sly grin began to form on Anne-Jean's face.

"Yeah. The breast milk incident. You remember don't you, Justin?"

"AJ, you better not."

Ignoring her brother, Anne-Jean began talking.

"You guys remember that my parents had twins a few months ago, right? Well there was a mug of breast milk in the fridge and…"

"AJ…"

"…Justin took it out and drank it. And…"

"AJ!"

"…after he realized it was breast milk, he did a spit take, and ran over to the sink to scrub our mom's milk right out of his mouth. Even going to the length of brushing, no, scrubbing his tongue with his own hands."

A few stares were directed at Justin. And after a moment's silence, the table doubled-over in laughter, causing Justin to slump down in his seat and clasped his hands over his eyes.

He locked eyes with his sister.

"You are so dead."

Anne-Jean just stuck out her tongue and sat back as the boisterous laughter coming from her friends sounded like music on her ears.

Justin scowled as he sat up, crossing his arms in annoyance at the ongoing display.

"That's right. Go on. Laugh it up. Get all your laughs out."

Amber sat up and gave her BF a kiss on the cheek.

"Sorry, baby. But you can't blame us."

"She's right, Justy," Abigail said as she began sobering up, "That was just too much."

"You guys can say whatever you want. I don't care. What's done is done. I can't change the past."

"C'mon, Justy. Don't be like that."

"Seriously, Ambs. I'm over it. It was mortifying but I'm over it."

"Moving on," Jesse said not wanting to talk anymore of milk that he knew came from his best friend's mother, "How'd the interview go?"

Justin smiled.

"Well, it wasn't really an interview. I just asked Ashley what I would expect later on."

"Ashley?"

"Yeah. That's Mr. Callous' sister's name. She's nice. She was real candid with me and all. I think I'm a shoe-in at medical school."

"So you think you did well?" Jesse asked as he moved as piece of meat with his fork, unsure of whether it was alive or not.

"I told you, it wasn't an interview. Only, it felt like an interview since Barkin was hovering above me the whole time."

"Here we go," Amber said as she rolled her eyes. Angel, Abigail, and Johnnie all did the same.

"What?"

"You and this Barkin thing. You're majorly exaggerating."

"I'm not exaggerating. Barkin is out to get me."

"You don't even go to this school anymore."

"You're point? I'm telling you he doesn't like me."

"Normally, I'd agree with you Amber, but I gotta say my brother is right. Barkin is out to get the Stoppables."

"And the Carlocks," Jesse said as he pushed his tray away, finally deciding to eat after school.

"Oh, c'mon you guys."

"Angie, Barkin has been on our tails since my dad went to this high school. He just doesn't like us Stoppables."

"You guys just…"

"We just what, Abby?" Justin asked as he sat up, "Barkin is out to get us. I mean, every morning when I went to this school, I couldn't get through the day without hearing a loud _'Stoppable!'_ booming through the hallway."

"Yeah, like the other day. He yelled and gave me thirty minute detention because he said I was staring at the guys' swimming team too long during practice. I mean, can you believe that?" Anne-Jean said as she folded her arms.

"Wait a minute, he gave you thirty minute detention for staring at the guys' swimming team?" Justin asked in disbelief.

"I know, can you believe it?"

"You see how he treats her better than me? It's because you're a girl!"

"What are you talking about, Justin? Barkin treats me no different than how he treats you."

Justin made a rude sound.

"Please. Senior year. End of the day. After school. I just finish B-Ball practice and went to my locker to get a few books. He gave me three hour detention because he said I slammed the locker too hard, even though it was already after school hours."

Amber gawked at him.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah. Said I was disturbing the peace or something."

"I believe you," Jesse said as he said back and put his hands behind his head.

"Oh please, Jesse."

"Seriously, AJ. I agree with your brother on that part. Barkin is out to get the guys."

"Jesse…"

"You're a witness. Haven't you heard how many times he called me this morning? Ug. Everyday it's the same. And it's for stupid stuff. I got two hour detention because when I was writing a problem on the chalkboard, the chalk was squeaking."

"You're overreacting."

"Hardly. You got thirty minutes of detention for being a Peeping Tom."

"Hey, I was not a Peeping Tom. In case you forgot, I'm also on the swim team. They went before we did and I watched from the sidelines. Apparently, he said I was staring too long or something. I don't know. He only did it cause I'm a Stoppable."

"I'm telling you, he has something against us," Justin said as he slammed his fist on the table, "Ever since my dad…"

"Stoppable!"

The whole table winced at hearing that surname. Both Stoppable children slowly turned around to face the aging former Lieutenant.

They answered in unison.

"Yes, Mr. Barkin?"

"Alumni, Stoppable," Barkin said as he stared at Anne-Jean, causing her to cower in her seat.

"Y-Yes, Mr. Barkin?" Justin said once he realized his former vice principal was talking to him. He took a piece of paper that Barkin handed him.

"You're giving me detention?!"

"Affirmative, Stoppable. Vandalizing school property. Three hours."

"Are you serious?! I don't even go to this school anymore!"

Barkin narrowed his eyes at the youth.

"You will watch your tone with me, Stoppable."

"Mr. Barkin, I've got class at one and I'm not gonna get out til around nine."

"Three hours."

And with that, the tall broad shouldered man walked away from the table and out of the cafeteria.

"Damn, Justy. You really weren't lying about Barkin."

"Man, whatever," he said as he balled up the small piece of yellow paper.

"Justin, what are you doing?!"

"I don't go to school here anymore, Amber. I'm not gonna sit in some musty old classroom for three hours after midnight. I got class. Plus, I got a test to study for. I don't have time to deal with Barkin. I mean, what is he gonna do?"

"I don't know, Justin. You were the one talking about how he's always out to get you or something."

"Yes, Johnnie. When I went to school here, which I no longer do. I'm a sophomore in college. I have my own apartment, a job of my own, hell, I'm paying taxes. What sense does it make to make me come back to high school to stay in a smelly old classroom with a bunch of ill-mannered teenagers just because I tapped on a table, which in itself, isn't even that hot."

"Well…"

"And how did I vandalize school property? There's no dent in the table. None that were caused by me or weren't already there."

"You might be right, but this is Barkin we're talking about. He might have connections or something."

Justin, again, made a rude sound.

"Whatever, Jesse," taking his keys out of his pocket, he handed them to Amber, "Here, babe. You can go in the car and bring it around front. I'll be out shortly."

Amber took the keys and gave her boyfriend a light peck on the lips.

"Better watch yourself, big bro. Don't want Barkin writing you another slip for detention for PDA."

Justin raised his eyebrow up at his little sister before taking Amber in his arms and giving her a fully fledged kiss on the lips, causing half the students in the cafeteria to cheer and whistle.

When he pulled back, Justin stared back at his sister.

"I don't give a damn," he said as he turned around and began walking away from the table, Amber behind him, stumbling since the kiss left her weak in the knees.

Abigail shook her head.

"Girl, your brother has a cursing problem."

"Always had."

"He doesn't have a cursing problem. He just sometimes uses them when their not necessary," Angel said as she dumped her tray.

"What time is it, Jess?"

Jesse looked down towards his wrist.

"Eleven forty eight."

"We might be early but I still say we should go to History now."

"I agree," Johnnie said as he got up.

"Ooo! And maybe after school we got all go…"

"Shopping!" The three of them said in unison, leaving Jesse to scowl.

"Okay, okay. Partner up," Anne-Jean said as she walked ahead of them, "Okay. Johnnie, you go with Abby and Angie."

"Yah!"

"And Jesse will come with me."

"No, Jesse will not come with you," Jesse said as he crossed his arms.

"What?"

"I am not going shopping with you again."

"I can see where this is heading. Johnnie, Abby, let's go. We'll meet up with you guys after school," Angel said as she and the others proceeded to their, leaving Jesse and Anne-Jean to stand there in the hallway by themselves.

"Why don't you want to go shopping with us?"

"Because every time you drag me along, you guys always make me carry your shopping bags…"

"Not all the time."

"And you guys, more specifically, you, model for me—all the time"

"I thought you liked that?"

"Hello? Not when you're father is a monkey master and your brother is still trying to gain control of his MMP. No to mention the fact that I have a deep fear of being beat by sixteen different kinds of kung fu or blasted off into a black hole."

Anne-Jean rolled her eyes.

"Oh c'mon, Jesse. You're overreacting."

"What, are you serious? I mean, your brother's no body builder but he's strong as hell."

"Please, Jesse? It'd mean, an awful lot to me if you came shopping with me and gave me a second opinion." Anne-Jean started pouting her lip as she stared into her friend's eyes.

Jesse saw what she was doing and immediately clasped his hands over his eyes.

"AJ, no! That's not fair!"

"Please, Jesse?"

"Annie, please, I'm asking you as a friend to…"

"Pleeeaaaasssseee?"

Jesse closed his eyes tighter as he felt his will bearing down. He knew he'd have to surrender soon or they'd be late for class.

Slowly removing his hands from his eyes, Jesse peaked open to look at his friend, hoping the dreadful thing was gone.

It was still there.

"Damn it! Fine! I'll go shopping you!"

A large smile spread crossed Anne Jean's face as she pulled back.

"Really?"

"Yes. Damn, you're so cruel."

Anne-Jean smirked.

"Serves you right for what you pulled this morning."

"You know I'm gonna get you for this, right?"

Anne-Jean just shrugged her shoulders as she sauntered away from her best friend, pleased with herself. He may be sneaky but she had her secret weapon.

Humph. He wasn't the only one who could be good.


	3. Shopping Consequences

Jesse sighed heavily as he slumped down in the leather seat in the Middleton Mall. Anne-Jean had dragged him all the way there after school, where they met up with Angel and the others. For three hours they had been in that store and Jesse just about had enough.

He was tired, hungry, and had loads of homework to do. He really didn't want to be here right now.

Fortunately, what they were doing now was the last thing they had to do. But it was what they were doing that was bothering him.

Because Abigail's mother, Monique Renton, happened to be a famous fashion designer, they had complete access to a secluded area of the store where there was a catwalk, and a changing room, where the group could try on and model the clothes they were gonna buy before they bought them to see how they looked.

The downfall to that was that the area that surrounded it was complete glass. So anyone could look in and see them model _if_ they wanted to, which was why the room was only used for special and specific purposes. But being the daring, adventurous, bold, foolhardy, teens they are, they decided to do this anyway.

"How much longer do I have to sit through this?"

"Oh shut up, Jesse," Angel said as stood up and began beating on the marble table, "Alright, Abby! C'mon out here chika and rock your stuff!"

Jesse sighed as he looked up to see a caramel skinned beauty about 5'3" strut down the catwalk wearing a bright sunshine yellow pubikini swimsuit and yellow flip-flops.

"Work it, chika. Work it," Angel called as she goaded Abigail on to a complete three-sixty before posing at the end of the catwalk.

"Two words, sweetie. Sex—Say!" Angel said as she joined her friend at the end of the catwalk.

"Thanks, girl. I saw a real cute one like this that was spring green. Think I'm gonna buy that one."

"Girl, you could buy both."

"Oh God, kill me now," Jesse said as he slumped even further in his seat.

Angel glared at him before turning her attention back towards Abigail.

"Go get dressed, Abby."

"Uh-Uh, girl. Johnnie's next. I'm not gonna miss him. You can go pay for your tankini. I'll introduce Johnnie."

"Uh-uh, chika. I'm staying here to see my friend. You best believe that."

Abigail smiled as she walked off the catwalk.

"Johnnie, baby. You ready honey?"

"Play me in!"

Abigail and Angel started banging on the table. A fair skinned young man about 5'6" began strutting down the catwalk barefoot wearing a white square leg swimsuit.

Johnnie wasn't all that thin and had a little more of an average build. In Jesse's mind, from a girl's perspective, the swimsuit would look surprising sexy on Johnnie. To him, meh.

"Ooo, honey, I love it!"

"Work it, baby! Make mama proud!"

"Mhm. I think Ms. J is jealous right about now, Johnnie."

Johnnie kept it up, walking all the way to the end of the catwalk, turning around, posed, then walked back to where he once was, before walking back up to the front again.

"John-Nay! Honey, you are amazing!"

"We loved it baby! Loved it!"

"I know," he said as he walked down the catwalk, "Cause honey, I'm fabulous! I'm gay, great, and gorgeous!"

"Woo, honey!"

"I know that's right!"

Jesse just rolled his eyes at the display. It wasn't what they were saying or doing that was bothering him. He loved Johnnie. He was one of his close friends. Jesse loved all his friends. It was the fact that he was spending his afternoon, watching them model and make total fools of themselves while at the same time wasting his own time. He did have homework to do.

"You know what, Johnnie? I saw a leggy like that in red and it was just calling, no, begging you to buy it."

"Ooo, where'd you see this, Abby? I may just where that to that swimsuit bash next Friday."

"I'll show you," she said as she slipped her arm around his and lead her friend to another part of the secluded area.

"O-Kay, well, not like this hasn't been fun but I think it's time for me to go home now," Jesse said as he got up and started for the door.

Of course, Angel wouldn't let him.

"Ah-Ah-Ah, hold up buddy. Where do you think you going?"

"Home."

"Uh-Uh, buddy. We are not done yet."

"C'mon, Angie. We've been out all day. You guys dragged me all over the place and everything. I've got homework to do."

"What? We're at one of the most famous malls in Colorado and you're thinking about homework?"

"Ang, it's only famous because it's named after a city, like almost every other well known mall in every state."

"You're not leaving."

Jesse began flailing his arms.

"Angel, I got homework to do!"

"We all do, Jesse. We're just having a little fun too."

"There's no time for fun when there's work to do."

"Look at you. You sound like AJ's mom. _'There's no time for fun when there's work to do'_. My God. If you didn't want to go shopping then why did you come with us?"

"Hello?! Because you guys forced me to!"

"No, no. You can't force anyone to do anything. What is that saying? You can bring the horse to the water but you can't make it swim?"

Jesse rolled his eyes.

"Drink. You can bring a horse to the lake, but you can't make it drink."

"Exactly. You are our horse. We brought you to this mall but we did not make you shop!"

"What? That doesn't even make any sense!"

"Look, you know what I am trying to say! You know what I mean!"

"You guys always take advantage of me! I have work to do. I never wanted to go shopping with you guys. You heard me say that this morning."

"Look, Jesse. I am not gonna get into this with you here. Bottom line is, you agreed to come here, so stop complaining and whining and just ride it out until we are ready to leave."

"But Angel…"

"Now Anne Jean is next. You are her best friend. She really wants you're opinion about her swimsuit. Plus, since you didn't cheer or comment on the rest of us, you have to stay here and do that for AJ," Angel said as she began walking towards the door.

"Stay here? What do you mean stay here, where are you going?"

"To the food court. Abby and Johnnie and I are hungry. When you and AJ are done, meet us downstairs in an hour."

"An hour?"

"Yes. Those lines are long. Bye!"

Jesse sighed as sat down heavily in a chair as his raven-haired friend exited the room. This was so not fair to him. But then again, when was life ever fair?

"Abby, Angel? Are you out there?"

"They're gone. It's just me."

"Aww. Well then, I'm ready."

"Okay."

"……Well, can you play me in?"

Jesse couldn't believe it.

"You have got to kidding me?"

"Please?"

Jesse sucked his teeth as he sat up and made a slow but rhythmic beat with his hands. Moments later, a caramel blonde teen with full bodied hair that flowed down to the middle of her back stepped from the back room. Jesse's eyes widened in astonishment as well as surprise as Anne Jean walked strutted sown the catwalk.

He shook his head. What would her parents think if they saw their sixteen year old daughter modeling for her best friend, wearing nothing but a bright pink string bikini and three inch high heels?

And that was the laugh. AJ couldn't even walk in heels.

Posing at the end of the catwalk, Anne-Jean looked down towards her friend, waiting for an answer. All she got were raised eyebrows, wide blue-grey eyes, a gaped mouth, and an _'Are you serious?'_ kind of look.

"What?"

Still, he said nothing.

"C'mon, Jesse. This is important. I need you to tell me what you think."

Shaking his head, Jesse stood up.

"AJ, do you really wanna know what I think?"

"Yes."

"I think that there are certain things a friend should do, and certain things a boyfriend should do. This, is something a boyfriend should do."

Anne Jean rolled her eyes.

"Oh c'mon, Jesse."

"I'm serious, AJ. What you and Abby and Angel are doing to me are crossing so many borders of wrong it's frightening."

"And just what are we doing, Jesse?"

"You girls are forcing me against my will to sit here and watch you model and like wear something that barely categorizes as clothing."

"What?"

"It's wrong. It's not right. It's…it's…like you guys are trying to seduce me or something."

"Oh right, Jesse. Abby and Angel and I wanna seduce you. We'd love to seduce you. Every day we think of ways plotting on how we can persuade you to do our biding through the sensual art of sexual intercourse."

"Alright! Fine! I get it. It just seems like that, okay? I do have homework to do and you guys are making me stay here against my will."

Anne Jean shook her head.

"Look, Jesse. Just tell me what you think of the bikini. The faster you tell, the faster you can get home to do your work."

"I can't look at it."

"What do you mean you can't look at it?" she asked slightly offended.

"I mean, it has MMP and black hole written all over it."

"Jesse, you can't be serious."

"I told you before we left school that I had a deep fear of getting a beat down by your brother, your parents, and of being sent to a dark abyss in space."

"Jesse…"

"No. I'm leaving. I'll catch you later. The others are downstairs if you want to talk to them," Jesse said as he began walking towards the exit.

"Jesse, wait…" Anne-Jean's voice trailed off as she stumbled off the edge of the catwalk. In a heartbeat Jesse was at her side, catching her in an instant, holding her close to him in an instant.

The two teens locked eyes and an awkward silence passed between them.

An extensive _'Um'_ escaped Jesse's lips, which soon ended as he heard the door to the private room.

Fear gripped his heart as he felt another pair of eyes staring at him from the door. Slowly turning his head, his eyes widened as he began to shake.

A strawberry-blonde man with cocoa brown eyes and a black sports jersey was staring at the display in total shock.

Jesse gulped. Of all the ways he had to die, it had to be this one.


	4. A Deer in Headlights

Jesse stood in fear as he stood holding his best friend in his arms who was dressed in nothing but a bright pink string bikini, while at the same time looking at her older brother at the entrance, a dumbfound look on his face.

Slowly he started to approach them.

Jesse began to panic.

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Angel laughed as she put down her can of soda on the table.

"Okay, okay. Have you guys noticed how, in our group, all the girl's name's begin with an 'A' and all the guys begin with a 'J'?"

"Really?"

"Abby, Angel, Annie…Johnnie, Jesse…oh my gosh that's true," Johnnie said as he flicked his hand, "And it even works when we include Justin and Amber too."

"Way to evaluate, Ang. I didn't even think of that when we met."

"You know what's also weird?"

"What?"

"Don't you think AJ and Jesse are like a mirror image of AJ's and Justin's parents?"

"Not even," Johnnie said as he picked up a grape from his tray, "I mean AJ's like her dad in every way. She's a procrastinator, she's lazy…"

"But she's also like her mom."

"Physically, yes. Brains, not so much."

"That's mean, Johnnie."

"It's the truth. Look at Jesse. Smart, kind, loving, adoring, cute…"

"Jesse?"

Johnnie raised his eyebrow at Angel.

"Like you don't think so?"

"I never said that. Hey, I got nothing hide. We're all friends and real here. Shoot, I wouldn't mind being the next Adam and Eve with Jesse. Boy's cute. And he's got brains to match. And his body isn't too far from yours, Johnnie. Dating Jesse is definitely okay in my book."

"Amen, sista," Abigail said raising her hand for a high five. Angel obliged her friend with an enthusiastic high five.

"My point is Jesse's more like Mrs. Stoppable than AJ is to me."

"Eww! Don't call her Mrs. Stoppable! It makes her sound so old."

"Eight children? Honey, she's far from it," Johnnie said as he flicked his hand.

"And she's still got a killer body!"

"You're mom too, Abby."

"Least you two could talk. My mom's so old. The wrinkles in her skin are starting to permanently mold in with the rest of her body."

The two girls gawked at their friend.

"Johnnie! OMG! You are being so bad today."

"You should see me on weekends."

"Damn."

"With my dates."

"Damn!"

"Okay, moving on," Angel said, trying to shake the disturbing image of Johnnie wresting around with one of his dates on a Saturday night, "The point I was trying to make earlier was that I could possibly see our two lovebirds in a nest somewhere in the future."

"Are you serious, Angie?"

"Yes? I can see Jesse holding AJ in his arms as if she were his bride. Clear as day."

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Jesse continued to tremble as he saw Justin approach him. Each step seemed more deadly than the last the closer Justin got to him.

Jesse tried desperately to calm himself down. He had to figure out a way to put AJ down and talk himself out of this situation. He had to remain calm.

Jesse saw Justin glance back and forth between himself and his confused best friend. A questioning eyebrow was seen on his forehead and it seemed to be begging for answers.

Jesse didn't know how much more of this he could take.

Finally, Justin opened his mouth to speak.

"Hi."

That was all it took.

Panic-stricken, Jesse nearly threw Anne Jean off of him as he hastily let her out of his arms and pushed her away. Immediately he began flailing his arms as he tried to defend himself.

"Oh my God, Justin, I swear, we didn't do anything! I mean, I mean, I came in here t…to watch them…but I didn't wanna! They forced me! But I didn't do anything! I swear!" Jesse gushed.

"Cool it, Jess. It's alright. I believe you."

It wasn't until a moment or so later, that Jesse realized that Justin wasn't looking at him, but his sister. He hadn't taken his eyes off his sister since he had entered the room. Nor was he paying any attention to the boy, who just a few moments ago, held his bikini-wearing sister in a bridal style manner.

He might just come out of this alive.

"Hey Jesse," Justin began, "I saw Angel and the others splitting a pizza and a few drinks in the food court downstairs. Think you might want to join them?"

Jesse didn't have to be told twice. Immediately, he bolted out of the private room and downstairs, straight out of the mall. He didn't want to chance Justin suddenly having a changed mind about who did what and who was wrong here. He went straight home to do what he planned to do since that morning.

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Anne Jean crossed her arms as she stared at her brother in disbelief.

"Why did you do that?"

"I didn't do anything. I merely made a suggestion."

"That's not funny, Justin. You know Jesse's afraid of you."

"Have I given him reason to? Or should there be a reason he should fear me right now?"

"What're even doing here, Justin? I thought you had class? Weren't you supposed to be tied up until ten or something?"

"It's lunch time for me. Amber wanted to eat out."

"In a mall?"

"You are on campus? You do realize that, right? Amber didn't want anything too heavy to eat before her next class. The food joints around here aren't of her tastes right now. She wanted something light, like a chicken wrap or something. So we came here."

"And you?"

"I go where she goes. I'm not gonna be late to my next class. And I don't think you're setting the proper tone here, Missy. I'll be the one asking the questions."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, really."

"What could I possibly have to explain to you?"

"Explain how I caught you in a private room in the arms of your male best friend wearing nothing but a bright pink string bikini and three inch high heels."

Anne Jean winced.

"Yeah. Ouch."

"Whatever, Justin," she said as she started to walk around him. He, of course, cut her off.

"Whatever?"

"What?"

"You got caught. You were a deer in headlights wondering if you just ate your last meal."

"Nothing happened."

Justin sucked his teeth.

"Damn, AJ. How stupid do you think I am? I know nothing happened."

"Then why did you scare Jesse away?"

"I didn't scare the boy away. Case you forgot, I never even looked at him."

Anne Jean, again, tried to walk around her brother, and again, he blocked her.

"Damn, Justin. I didn't do anything wrong."

"You didn't do anything wrong?"

"No."

Justin lightly slipped his finger under one of the strings that tied around her neck and gave it a tug.

"Wearing flimsy fabric like this and modeling it around in a public mall isn't something wrong? What is this, dental floss?" he said as he began examining the bikini again.

Anne-Jean pulled away and roughly pushed her brother away from her.

"Hey, hey. Watch the shirt! This thing is new!"

"I don't care about your damn jersey. You're freaking embarrassing me!"

"I'm embarrassing you?"

"Yes!"

Justin glanced at the door before turning his attention back towards his sister.

"You were modeling in a room surrounded by glass, where pedestrians could just peek in and see what was going on and you're embarrassed by me standing here talking to you? I feel sorry for you on graduation day."

"Justin, this is so not funny!"

"Maybe not to you. I find this amusing."

"I'm amusing you?"

"Yep," he said as he started walking over to the door, "Whatever happened to that _'I'm gonna study like crazy for the next two weeks'_ thing? Looks like you're still with friends, you're still shopping, and from what I saw a few moments ago, it looked like you were having boatloads of fun."

"Starting tomorrow I'm gonna study like crazy. That's why I came straight here to shop. I need to get all my fun out by tonight."

A click at the door got Anne Jean's attention and she looked up she Justin walking back towards her, twirling a pair of keys in his hands.

"What are you doing?"

"Remember how Aunt Monique gave me that job working here at the mall last summer? She gave me the keys to this room. She never took them back and…"

"I know that, genius. Why did you lock the door?"

"To keep you from leaving."

"What?"

Justin tossed the keys around some more before putting them back in his pocket and sitting down in the seat Jesse sat many moments ago.

"Let me ask you something, AJ. Do Mom and Dad know you're here?"

"I don't know."

"Yes, you do."

"…Probably not. I haven't been home since this morning."

"School ended at three. It's quarter to six. They'll be wondering where you are."

"It's not that big a deal, Justin. I'll just explain to them what happened."

"Which was what? You were modeling in thin bikinis for your friends at the mall when you should have been at home doing your homework?"

Anne Jean sucked her teeth.

"Damn, Justin. Why you always gotta be like that?"

"Be like what? I'm not doing anything. I'm just stating the facts cause you think your slick."

"What are you talking about, Justin?"

"Mom and Dad went on a mission this morning. Knowing that, you assumed they probably wouldn't be home until late this evening, for you to do a little shopping this afternoon. And because Mom's a workaholic and Dad's a head chef, they'd have to go straight to work when they returned anyway, furthering your little fieldtrip even more, probably expanding to this outrageous idea of yours to model in a public shopping mall. So by the time you were done with your little fieldtrip, you would be getting home just a few minutes before Mom and Dad, right?"

Anne Jean rolled her eyes.

"But what you didn't know, little sis, was that the twins got sick today. And in case you're wondering who, it's not the eleven year olds, and it's not the six year olds. It was the Mommy's and Daddy's precious little three month old baby girls."

Anne Jean's eyes snapped opened.

"That's right. The newest additions to the Stoppable clan. And because these little babies are so young and small, you know Mom and Dad would immediately rush over to help their young ones. That was at one o' clock this afternoon. How do I know? Because Mom called me on her flight over here and pulled me straight out of class to go pick up the little angels from Aunt Monique and Uncle Felix's house and to take them to the emergency room until they got back."

Anne Jean continued to stare at her brother as her heart began to race.

"Not so slick now, now are you?"

"You're not gonna tell on me, are you?"

Justin shrugged his shoulders.

"I could. I would. I probably should, but I'm not gonna."

Anne Jean let out a sigh of relief.

"I wouldn't sound so relieved if I were you. You still have to think of some kind of story to tell Mom and Dad when you get home."

"I'll worry about that later. Right now, I need the keys to the door so I can buy this bikini."

"I'm not giving you these keys. There's a reason I locked that door."

"And what would that be?"

"You're not leaving until you put that bikini back."

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Jesse paced back and forth through his room as he tried to figure out if he should go back to the mall or not.

On one hand, AJ was his best friend. On the other, he didn't want to go there in the first the place, and in fact, had resisted until she broke out the PDP. But then again, he did value her happiness more than anything else in his life. But he also told her he had work to do and that he did not want to accompany her in the first place.

Then there was Justin.

Did having her back, mean facing up to Justin and putting his life on the line, even when he himself didn't do anything wrong?

Making a decision, Jesse grabbed his pack, and headed out his bedroom door, unsure of if he was making the right decision after all.

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Anne Jean crossed her arms as she, again, stared at her brother in disbelief.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I said you're not leaving until you put that bikini back."

"You can't tell me what I can and can't do."

"I believe I just did."

"Give me the keys!"

"Put the bikini back."

"Justin!"

"You can scream all you want but you're not leaving until you put that thing back, and I'll let Mom and Dad know that if you make me late to my next class."

Anne Jean let out a boisterous scream as she tried to reach for the keys in Justin's pocket. Seeing this, Justin grabs her arm and twists it, stopping her in her tracks and causing a sharp pain to shoot up her arm.

"AJ, you're my sister and I love you, but I will hurt you if you try to reach for those keys again."

Digging her nails into his skin, Anne Jean tried desperately to free herself from her brother's grasp.

"Let go of me!"

"Open your hand."

"Justin!"

"Open…your hand."

Anne Jean grunted as she opened up her hand to show her brother that nothing was in it. Almost immediately, he let her go, and she fell to the floor, holding her wrist.

"Tough love, sis. Tough love."

Anne Jean grunted as she slowly got back to her feet.

"I hate you."

"No you don't."

"Yes, I do!"

"No you don't."

Anne Jean gave a large huff as she stared her brother in his eyes.

"Why are you so cruel to me?"

"I'm trying to protect you."

"You're overprotective and obsessive. I don't need your protection."

"You know, you abuse the power you're given?"

Anne Jean wanted to strangle him.

"What, what are you talking about, Justin?"

"You abuse the fact that you're parents are famous crime-fighting heroes and that they have connections."

"Okay, what are you talking about?" Anne Jean had just about enough of her brother.

"Look at the evidence. You took the fact that Mom's best friend was a famous fashion designer, and used it to have a fashion show for your friends in a private area, that was secluded from the rest of the mall."

"That's just a benefit of Mom and Dad being big time heroes. I don't abuse it."

"Yeah right."

"Justin, I don't have time for this. I want to go home, so can I just…"

"I'll unlock the door, after you put the bikini back."

"Damn it, Justin! I'm not putting the bikini back!"

"Then I guess we're gonna be here for a long time."

Anne Jean gaped at her brother.

"Or better yet, why don't I change you myself?"

"What?"

"What sense does it make for me to make myself late for class when I've done nothing wrong?"

"You can't be serious?"

"Where did you change? In the back room?" He asked as he started approaching her.

"Justin, no. Get away from me," she said taking a few steps back.

"I think you did. I see the clothes you were wearing earlier behind there."

"Justin. If you touch me, I swear…"

Justin raised his eyebrow up at his little sister before heaving her up over his left shoulder and walking towards the back room.

"Oh my God! Justin, you jackass! Put me down! Put me down right now!" she screamed as she began pounding on her brother's back.

"That's right. Go ahead and call me whatever you want. I don't care."

"I can't believe you!"

"Would you stop squirming? You're making this more difficult than it has to be."

"Put me down, now!" she screamed as she continued beating on her brother. He didn't seem fazed.

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Outside, three figures stood in shock at the display they were witnessing on the other side of the door.

"Damn. I did not think Justin would go that far."

"I gotta say, I agree with him on these glass doors. People really can just peer in and see everything," Johnnie said, touching the glass door for emphasis.

"Uh, guys. Don't you think maybe we should do something?" Angel asked as she continued to watch the unsettling display before her.

"What are we gonna do, Angie? The door's locked. Plus, I'm getting a crack at watching AJ struggle like that," Abigail said with a chuckle.

"Don't you just love sibling rivalry?" Johnnie said as he put a fist to his chin.

Angel began stretching.

"Yeah, well. I got better things to do than to watch these two fight all day."

"Yeah. It's getting late and got homework to do."

"Think I'm gonna head home now," Abigail said as she began walking away.

"I second that notion," Johnnie said as he joined her.

"What about, AJ?"

"Girl, didn't you just say you had better things to do?"

"Yeah, but…"

"We can't help her here, Angie. That's a family issue that's she's gonna have to deal with."

"Thank goodness, I'm an only child."

"I think we're all thankful for that, Johnnie."

Angel took one quick glance towards the door, before walking away and heading out of the mall with her friends.

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Anne Jean was seething with anger as she sat inside her godmother's clothing store. She didn't know how long she had been sitting there and quite frankly, she didn't care. What she guessed was hours ago, Justin had hoisted her over his shoulder and took her to the back room of the store, where he stripped of her beautiful pink bikini and clothed her himself afterwards. And as if make matters worse, Justin made it clear to the manager that she was not to buy any bikinis of any kind from that department.

His reason for being was to make her life miserable. She knew. She couldn't wait until she could get out on her own and tell her overbearing and controlling what the hell he could do with all his haughty opinions about the way she dressed and carried herself.

A small clicking at the door told AJ that someone had entered but she was too upset to care at the moment. She heard a couple footsteps and could sense the person standing above her.

"Hey."

AJ closed her eyes as the soft apologetic tone of her best friend seemed to calm all of her nerves all together.

"You okay, AJ?"

Anne Jean looked up to see Jesse standing above her, concern in his bluish grey eyes. She didn't answer, but a few tears started to stream down her face and seemed to crush his heart.

"AJ, I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I shouldn't have left you like that earlier. I was wrong to leave you."

"Jesse, please. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Your tears say otherwise."

Anne Jean bit her lip. Why did he have to say things like that?

"Jesse, ignore the tears. They're not because of you. They're because of my brother," she said as she started to wipe them away.

"Your brother?"

A small sniffle was all that came from AJ. Reaching into his pocket, Jesse pulled out a few tissues and handed them to her. She smiled and took them, quickly blowing her nose, before wiping her tears.

"What did Justin do?"

"Justin is a stupid, controlling, obsessive, overbearing, arrogant, ignorant, uppity, bigheaded, haughty, bossy, jackass, who lives to make my life miserable."

"Wow. Uh…That's a lot…" Jesse said as he began rubbing the back of his head, unsure of what else to say.

"I hate him."

"No you don't."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't. I know you, AJ. You don't hate him. You may be upset at him. But don't hate him. You can't. He's your brother."

Anne Jean sniffled again.

"What's that thing you guys used to say? You're Stoppables or something?"

"We're Stoppables with Possible blood."

"That's right. Anything's Possible?"

"Nothing's Unstoppable," she said with a smile.

"See? Blood is thicker than water. You love him. Probably more than me. Or at least you should."

A small smile spread across AJ's lips. Moving over slightly, she gave her best friend a light peck on the check.

"Thank you, Jesse. You truly are one in a million."

Jesse smiled.

"Well, what can I say? I am what I am."

Anne Jean slowly shook her head.

"So, c'mon. It's late. We have school tomorrow. You're parents are probably at home waiting for you and everything."

"I can't go."

"Why not?"

"I don't have anything to wear."

"You looked pretty well clothed to me."

"No. I don't have anything to wear to Sammantha's swimsuit bash next Friday."

"Who's Sammantha?"

"Sammantha? Third period English?"

"Hmm…no. Don't know her. But, what are you talking about? You have a swimsuit. You spent the whole afternoon modeling in one, remember?"

"Right. But thanks to my overprotective brother I have nothing to wear to her party. I can't buy a single bikini from this store anymore," she said as she crossed her and hugged her arms even tighter.

Jesse stared at his friend for a long moment before exhaling loudly. He knew he was going to regret what he was about to do.

"Look, I don't know this Sammantha person you're talking about but it seems like you really wanna go to her party. And I really don't like seeing you upset…so…"

AJ perked up as she looked her friend straight in his blue-grey eyes.

"Jesse?"

Jesse began rubbing the nape of his neck.

"If it really means that much to you…then…I guess I could buy the bikini for you."

Anne Jean's eyes lit up as a smile spread across her face. Immediately, she sprang to her feet and enveloped her friend in a crushing embrace.

"Oh my God! Thank you, Jesse!"

Jesse bit his tongue to prevent himself from saying something he knew he'd regret as he tried to endure his friend's deadly hold on his body.

"Oh my God! I cannot believe this! You are the best friend in the whole world!"

"AJ…"

"I can't tell you how much this means to me!"

"AJ…"

"I promise when we get back…"

"Anne Jean!"

That was enough to stop her right in her tracks. Jesse almost never called her by her full name. Her family she was used to, but hearing it out of Jesse's voice sounded…wrong. Almost terrifying.

AJ looked down to see Jesse struggling to free himself from her tight embrace. She nearly screamed when she saw how ashen his face was.

Instantly, she let him go, and he fell to the ground, gasping for air, holding his throat.

"Oh my God. Jesse I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

"Will be in a couple seconds," he said as he slowly got to his feet, "You know, AJ, Abigail was right about your brother, but she was right about you too. Yah'll do have a cursing problem. And I don't think your parents curse as much as you two do."

"They don't."

"That's something you guys need to get checked out."

"Whatever. So are you gonna buy me that bikini now?"

"Are you crazy? It's eight o'clock. How would I look walking into my house with women's swimwear?"

AJ's eyes suddenly snapped opened.

"Oh my gosh! It's after eight? Oh man, my parents are gonna kill me."

Jesse shook his head.

"Nah. I got your back, remember?"

"What?"

"I left the store earlier, remember? When Justin saw us? Well, I went straight home. Mom asked where I was and I told her we had stayed after school for a few extra hours to study for the PSAT. She seemed to believe me. She knows I'm a stress junkie so that part was easy. It was covering for you that was the hard part."

"You covered for me?"

Jesse nodded.

"Your mom called like about an hour after I got home. She wanted to know where you were and I told her you were at the library picking up a few books to study and that you should be home in a few hours. I knew she wouldn't believe me right off the back, so I told her that we had stayed after school to study for the PSAT like I told my mom. I told her you wanted to get a few more resources that we couldn't get from the school, so you went to the library. Then she asked why we didn't just come straight home after school to study where we could have used the computers and had even more to go on. I told her that you and I had been taught by Barkin in three of our classes and that he was harassing me all day, so the simplest solution just didn't enter our minds. After that, there was no more speculation. She seemed to believe me and I honestly couldn't think of anything else to say in your defense. I'm just thankful I told my mom the same story since she was in the room when I was talking to her."

Anne Jean shook her head as she stared at her friend in disbelief.

"I can't believe you."

Jesse smiled.

"I got your back, remember?"

"There's just one problem."

"What?"

"You told my mom I picked up a few books…"

Jesse smiled. Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out three thick books. _ The Ultimate Verbal and Vocabulary Builder, 100,000 Mathematical Secrets, and Aiming for the Perfect Score_.

"The last one's really for me but you can have the first two. I got plenty more at home."

AJ was astonished.

"I really don't know what to say."

"A simple 'thank you' would be nice."

"Thank you."

"And you can just put this on the 'I Owe You' list of the many times I pulled your butt out of the fire every time you jumped out of the frying pan. And no more forcing me against my will to go shopping with you."

"I thought you said a 'thank you' would be nice?"

"Right. I said it would be nice. I never said it would suffice."


	5. Study Session

Kim sighed as she continued to rock her two infants back and forth in their carriers as she sat in the kitchen. She hadn't gotten any sleep last night after she came back from the emergency room and her two little angels made sure of that. They weren't really sick. Just a little cough here and there. But being the daughter of an over compulsive neurosurgeon, and being the type-A Kim Stoppable that she is, she, of course, saw it more than what it was and dragged her son out of class to take care of the two little babies while she and Ron were away.

It didn't help that that same night, Anne Jean came home about nine o' clock in the evening as well. Since she already heard the story from Jesse, she didn't really need to hear it again from AJ. But that didn't stop her from questioning her about the books she bought, and asking Ron to stay up with her an extra few hours while she took care of not only the babies, but the six year olds, who had gotten into a fight and were covered from head to toe in bruises, and the eleven year olds, whose excessive screaming and arguing the whole night made AJ and Justin's arguing as a preteens made them look angels.

Kim sighed again as she tried to once again hush her screaming children.

"Please, sweeties. Mommy's very, very, tired."

The wailing infants' screaming seemed to only get louder and Kim groaned and closed her eyes as she tried to think of a way to calm her two youngest children down.

"Go to sleep, go to sleep, Mommy's right here beside you. I'll protect you from harm, you will wake in my arms. Go to sleep, little ones, guardian angels are near. So sleep on, with no fear…your daddy's dead if he's here."

Kim opened her eyes to see two quiet little infants sleeping in their carriers and she said a quiet prayer of thanks that she finally was able to get her daughters to sleep.

"Hey, KP," Ron said as he entered the kitchen.

Kim's eyes snapped opened.

"Ron, shush!" she said as put her finger to her lips, "I just got these babies to sleep!"

Ron nodded his head as he approached his wife. He gently kissed her on the forehead.

"Sorry, KP."

Kim returned the kiss before resting her head on her husband's shoulder.

"It's okay, Ronnie…Um…Ron?"

"Yeah, KP?"

"You love me, right?"

"I've run out of ways to say it."

"Can you do me a little favor? Just a little one."

"Anything."

"I've been up with these babies all night and I haven't gotten any rest at all. This is the first fifteen seconds I've had to myself since yesterday."

"Um, KP…"

"Ron, can you please just watch them for a little bit while I go upstairs to sleep, please. Just ten minutes. That's all I'm asking for. They'll be up after that to eat."

"Well…yeah, Kim. But…"

"Oh, thank you, Baby," she said giving her husband a quick peck on the lips before breaking herself free out of his embrace, "Thanks a mill!"

"Uh, KP…"

"Just ten…now nine minutes, Ron. I'll take care of them after that. I promise."

Ron frowned.

"Kim…"

"Morning, Mom," Justin said as he entered the house.

Fear filled Kim's eyes as she saw him enter the house. Immediately she tried to warn her son.

"Justin, wait don't slam the…"

But it was too late. He had already slammed the door shut, two high-pitched screams once again screaming through the house.

Kim closed her eyes as her once sound asleep babies were once again aroused. Frustrated and upset, Kim rolled her tongue around her mouth for a moment before balling up her fists and exhaling loudly as she walked back over her now awake babies.

Ron shook his head at the display while Justin bit his lower lip.

"Oops…Uh, sorry, Mom."

"Don't worry about it," she said briefly. From the tone of her voice, Justin knew he was in for it later on.

"Uh, KP, you want any help?"

"No, Ron. I don't," she said as she readjusted the babies in their carriers, "I'm a Stoppable now, right? Nothing's Unstoppable for a Stoppable, remember?"

Ron and Justin each shared a worried glance before he turned his attention back towards his wife.

"Well, um, KP…"

"I'm fine, Ron. Really," she said as she took up the carriers and started out of the kitchen, "The motto still stands. I can do anything."

Ron and Justin could hear her grumbling to herself as she made her way up the stairs to her room.

"I don't believe this. All night I've been up with these babies trying to get them to go to sleep!"

Both men flinched when they heard a door slam following Kim's rant.

"I really am sorry, Mom," Justin called out to his mother even thought he knew she probably couldn't hear him.

"You should've known better than to slam the door like that, JJ," Ron said as he took some two eggs and two bacon strips out of the fridge.

Justin shrugged his shoulders.

"I haven't lived here for a while, Dad. I've gotten out of that habit."

"Well, you need to get back in it if you're gonna keep on coming over here."

Justin picked up an apple from the fruit basket and washed it under the faucet.

"Is Mom gonna be okay? She's been looking a little disheveled and sickly lately."

"Nah. You're Mom's gonna be fine. She's just a little exhausted and worked up with babies."

"Or with the fact that you have seven kids running around the house."

"How many times are we gonna get into this, Justin?"

"I'm not saying it as a bad thing, Dad. I'm just saying eight kids is a lot of…kids. You and Mom and gonna have high blood pressure by the time Cin and V hit their tweens. I mean, having one kid at a time is hard enough, two is even worse, but my God, eight?"

"We didn't ask for all of you, Justin. But we would've never given up on any of you. None of Kim's delivery's would have resulted in any harm to any of you or her so it was okay for us to go ahead to have you."

"And I'm glad you did. I'm the oldest. I have no objection to that. You guys would have had me whether you wanted to or not. I'm just concerned about Mom's heath. This can't be very good for her. You either."

Ron smiled. Taking a frying pan out of the cupboard, he put it on the burner, and turned the stove on. Slicing a few cubes of margarine in it afterwards.

"That's why we're taking a leave of absence."

"From what?"

"I had just gotten off the phone with Mrs. Pericarlo before you came in here."

"From where Mom works?"

"Yeah. Told her about what happened yesterday with the twins and the mission and everything. She said she'd give your mother a few weeks off."

"Really?"

"Yep. Said Preston was gonna cover for her."

Justin rolled his eyes as his took a bite out of his apple.

"Good ole, Preston."

"C'mon, Justin. The man didn't do you wrong…"

"That 'man' put you in jail, Dad."

"That was six years ago. We solved the case, everything worked itself out. I'm out of jail, Cindy and Veronica are okay, and I thought, you and Preston were on good sides again."

"Blah, blah, blah," Justin said as he got a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"Your mother forgave him."

"Yeah, but you could still feel the tension between them when they're in a room together."

"Maybe so but at least they get along again."

Throwing the rest of his apple in the garbage, Justin drank the rest of the water that was I the bottle before throwing it into the recycling bin. As he did this, Ron cracked the eggs and mixed them together in a mixing bowl along with some assorted seasonings of his choice.

"Dad, I really don't hold anything against the guy, personally. All I know is that he put my father in jail for a crime he didn't commit and it forever put a strain on our family. That's a wound that will never heal and I don't know if I can forgive him for that."

"You just contradicted yourself," Ron said as he poured the egg over into the frying pan.

"What?"

"You just contradicted yourself. You said you're not holding anything against, Preston, but your saying you can't forgive him for what he did all those years ago?"

Justin shrugged his shoulders again.

"Whatever."

"You want anything?" Ron said as he added the bacon strips and some cheddar cheese the frying pan.

"No thanks. I'm not really hunger."

"You don't eat because you're hungry. You eat because you have to."

"You know, you sound just like Granma P."

"Should. She's the one who said it," he said as he flipped the egg over to make an omelet, before putting it on a plate he had set on the counter.

"Is that for you?"

"No, your mother. She hasn't really been eating a lot lately and I have to make sure she does," he said as he put the plate on the table, putting the pan and spatula in the sink after he was done.

"You want any help, Dad?"

"No, it's okay. I got it."

"Where is everybody?"

"They left for school already."

"Really?"

"Yep. Your grandparents dropped Cin and V off. And AJ left early cause she said she had a swim meet today."

"Oh, that's right."

"You have any classes today?"

"No, not today. Cleared it so I could study."

Ron shook his head.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"I am the son of Kim Stoppable."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Ron said as he took poured a glass of orange juice for Kim.

"Oh, Dad, meant to tell you, I have a major picked out."

"Really?"

"Yep. Told Mom the other day. I'm gonna major in anesthesiology."

"Cool! We're gonna have a doctor in the Stoppable family!" Ron said boastfully, causing his son to chuckle.

"Dad, do you even know what an anesthesiologist is?"

"No."

Justin chuckled again.

"But, it doesn't matter cause my son's gonna be a doctor!"

"I think you better quiet down before Mom bites your head off."

"Ah…well, I'm not too worried about that but you're probably right. Your mother is a bit on edge lately."

"Have you tried helping her, Dad?"

"Of course I've tried helping her. That's what marriage is all about. I love your mother. I would never abandon her like that."

"Well, geez. I never said you would, Dad. I was just asking a question," Justin folded his arms and crossed his legs.

"Justin, I even tried helping her this morning. She didn't want it. You know, your mother needs her space sometimes. When she gets fired up or overworked or stressed, she just needs some Kim-time to let it out."

"Yeah, but Dad, she needs help with those babies."

"Which is why I put us on a leave of absence. Your mother really needs the rest."

Justin just nodded his head in agreement.

"Hey, Dad. How'd that mission in Beverly Hills go?"

"Dead end. Turns out nobody robbed the mall."

"Really?"

"Yep. We viewed the video footage. Sure there were some shady characters running around, but that was it. They didn't steal anything."

"Sounds like they faked it and ran."

"They probably did. Your mom and I have been doing this for a long time so most likely they'll show up again with bigger intentions. If nothing shows on the first mission, they're usually up to something big."

"Or they just don't know exactly what they want to do yet."

"That too."

Stretching as he got out of his seat, Justin gave a large yawn before dropping his arms back at his sides.

"Think I'm gonna go head back over to the apartment now, Dad. Amber's supposed to be meeting for a study session."

Ron nodded his head. Getting out of his seat, he took the plate and the glass of orange juice in his hands.

"Okay, JJ. Just make sure you're actually studying."

"What makes you think we won't be?"

"Do you really need me to answer that?"

"No, but it would nice to hear what you'd have to say."

Ron shook his head.

"Good bye, son. Don't forget to pick AJ up after school today."

"You know she could just walk."

Ron smiled as he exited the kitchen, shaking his head in the process. He heard Justin laughing behind him.

He really was his father's son.

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A dark figure stood outside his medium sized apartment, slowly let himself in. Three older men were inside waiting for him.

"Morning, Boss."

"How was your run?"

The young man tossed his leather jacket to the ground and immediately headed to the bathroom.

"Guys, I think today is the day."

"Why do you say that?"

Grabbing his toothbrush, the young man began brushing his teeth, trying to get the foul taste of the cigarette he popped in his mouth earlier out.

"Let's just say part one of our mission was a success."

The three burly men each shared a worried glance before looking back towards their employer.

"Uh, you wanna explain that some more, Boss?"

"I'll make it simple for your feeble minds to comprehend then," the late teen steeped out of the bathroom and back into the living room where his workers were, "Today, we're going back to school boys."

"School?"

"Time to put part two into action."

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Justin furrowed his brow as he flipped another page in his AP Chemistry Textbook. He rested his chin on his fist as he wrote something down, studying the page intently before turning the page again.

"My workaholic still working I see."

"Hi, Amber," he answered, not looking up from his textbook once.

The golden brown brunette sauntered into the kitchen, taking out a bottle of water from the fridge before making her way back over to her boyfriend and taking a seat across from him.

"Justin, you've been studying for five hours. When are you gonna take a break like I said?"

"I can't stop now, Ambs. I need to get this. I almost got this stuff. I know it!"

"Baby, you don't want to study too much cause you're gonna stress yourself out. You need to rest. You need to eat."

"I am. Babe, I am," he said, not once looking up from his book.

"When was the last time you've eaten anything?"

"Uhh, what time is it?"

Amber looked down at her wrist.

"It's two fifteen."

"When did I go with you to the Middleton Mall?"

"Yesterday?"

"That was probably when."

"Justin!"

"I'm fine. Baby, really, I'm fine."

Amber crossed her arms as she stared at her boyfriend in disbelief.

"Are you telling me you haven't eaten in over 24 hours?"

"I'm not hungry."

"Justin, you don't eat because you're hungry."

"Amber, really. I'm okay."

"Justin, if you keep pushing yourself like this, you're gonna sink so deep."

"Ambs, I just really need to get this."

Rolling her tongue in her mouth, Amber picked up one of the textbooks off of the sofa.

"Alright, mister. You want to study. Fine. Let me quiz you."

"Now that's what I want to hear," Justin said, closing the textbook he had in his hands and putting it aside, "Let me have it."

"Okay. Arsenic-74 is a positron emitter. What isotope is formed when 74 emits a positron?"

"Proton turns into neutron. The mass stays the same and the atomic number decreases by 1. C'mon, Amber."

"Okay, okay. Barium-122 has a half-life of 2 minutes. If 10 grams of 122Ba are produced in a nuclear reactor, how much 122Ba will remain10 minutes after production ceases?"

"10g at t=0; 5g at t=2 min; 2.5g at t=4; 1.25 at t=6; 0.625 at t=8; 0.3125g at t=10. C'mon, Amber. That stuff's not hard. That's like basic chemistry."

"It is basic chemistry."

"I need something more challenging than that."

"Okay. A strip of magnesium metal is added to a solution of silver(I) nitrate. Give me the balanced equation and tell me which substance is oxidized in the reaction."

"Okay…Um……The equation is…Mg + 2Ag+ to Mg2+ + 2Ag…and the substance that is oxidized is Mg—Magnesium."

"Correct."

"I'm right?"

"You're right, Baby."

"Alright, yes!"

Amber smiled as she put the chemistry book down.

"Okay, good. So you're gonna come eat now?"

"What? No."

"What do you mean no?"

"I'm not gonna stop studying just because I got one question right. I have a huge chem exam on Monday and I need to be prepared," Justin said picking up another textbook.

"Justin, what would your parents say about this?"

"They don't know."

"That's wasn't my question."

When he didn't answer, Amber crossed her arms in annoyance. She pursed her lips as she tried to think of a way to get her boyfriend away from his books.

Everybody has a certain 'spot' with their partner that they consider theirs. Where they could go for comfort. Or where they could go to manipulate their partner into doing what they wanted them to do. To Amber, Justin had two spots. Her comfort spot was his chest, right above his left breast, where she could just rest her head when she was tired or if she needed comforting or even if they were just cuddling, that was the spot where she would go to. Her manipulative spot was on the right side of his chest, right in the hollow of his collarbone, where he'd instantly melt into mush and bend to her every will.

Of course, she'd only use it when she really had to. A weapon as powerful as that couldn't be abused.

"Justy, Baby, I'm hungry."

"Then make yourself something to eat."

"But you can cook."

"So can you."

"But I want your cooking."

"Well, then, I guess you're out of luck, Babe, because I've still got some studying to do."

Swaying her hips just a bit, Amber sauntered over to the loveseat where Justin was sitting and situated herself right next to him.

"Please, Justy, Baby."

"No, Amby, Baby."

Nestling her head into his shoulder Amber gingerly began kissing his neck, causing him to raise his eyebrows in response.

"Uh…Amber…"

Slowly, she moved her lips along his jawbone, enticing him that much more.

"Amber…I…uh…."

Justin was cut off as he felt a pair of soft warm lips on his. It was sheer will of his that he was able to push her away, and when he did, he saw her staring back at him, like a hungry lioness that was eyeing her prey. It was then that he noticed that she had moved into his lap and was no longer beside him like she was earlier.

He struggled to get his mouth to work.

"S-Study…I need to…"

Again, he was cut off as his ravenous girlfriend put her finger to his lips.

"Shushh."

Amber slowly lowered herself back down and kissed him on the lips once more. This time, she pulled away on her own will, only to start kissing his neck again. Finding his left earlobe, she slowly began nibbling on it. When she heard the small moan escape his lips, she decided to use 'his spot.'

She slowly began kissing his neck again. Finding his collarbone, she placed a gentle kiss right in the small empty space between the bones.

Instantly, every nerve in Justin's body was shot. The tension vanished, and he melted right there on the couch.

Amber smiled to herself.

He was all hers now.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kim sighed as she lay on the bed. She had finally gotten the babies to go to sleep again. After Justin had woken hem up earlier she didn't know how she'd make it through the day.

She couldn't thank Ron enough for taking her off work for a few days. She was a bit tweaked that Preston was gonna be covering for her while she was away but after a while she let it go. There really was no need to hold anything against him at the moment. Plus, she was just too exhausted to argue about anything else.

Reaching over to her dresser, she picked the phone up off the hook and began dialing. There were a few rings before Kim heard someone pick up the phone.

"_H-Hello?"_

"Justin. Sweetie."

"_H-Hey, Mom. What's up?"_

Kim cringed. Justin sounded like he was antsy for some reason.

"Justin, are you okay?"

"_Y-Yeah, I'm fine."_

Kim wasn't entirely convinced.

"Are you sure?"

He didn't answer.

"Justin."

"_Amber get off…"_

Amber?

"_Mom, I'm fine. Really."_

Kim smirked. Yeah, he was. He was more than fine.

"Justin, I just called to remind you to pick up your sister after school."

"…_Yeah…I know…I'm gonna go pick up AJ in like ten minutes…"_

"Riiiiiiggght. Okay, Justin."

"_Do…Do you need me to pick up the others too?"_

"No. Your father already left to pick them up."

"_All of them?"_

"Jason and Serenity have a doctor's appointment and your father just decided to get Cindy and Veronica since they were nearby and drop them off by your grandparents."

Again, there was no response on the other line.

"Justin."

"_Yeah…Alright, Mom. I'll go pick up AJ in five…I…just…I'm just…"_

Kim rolled her eyes as she disconnected the line. He was definitely his father's son.

Kim heard the front door open and a series of footsteps running up the stairs. She saw Jason and Serenity running down the hallway to their room, stopping only to tell her 'hi' before sprinting into their rooms.

A small smile formed on Kim's lips when she saw Ron leaning against the door.

"Has my little KP been resting?"

Kim smirked. She slowly sat up.

"I wish. How was your trip to the doctor's office?"

"Not half as bad as the ride home."

"Jason and Serenity?"

"They're just a miniature version of Justin and AJ. And considering the fact that they both have Cousin Shawn and Tweeb genes in them…I shiver at the thought," Ron said, shaking as he thought about his now older and more demented relative.

Kim shook her head at the sight.

"Where are the babies?"

"In their crib, in their room, sound asleep. Finally, I got them to go to sleep."

"Yeah, I know you've been pretty exhausted lately."

"Ronnie, I love our children, with all my heart, but…I don't think I can do this again."

"I know."

"I mean…I don't know. It's just we just got Justin in college. Annie will be there in three years. The twins soon after…"

"Not to mention we still have a set in grade school and a set of three month olds."

Kim sighed.

"Ron, I don't know what to think anymore," she said as she plummeted back on the bed.

"Aww, does my KP want a foot rub to ease her mind?"

"Please and thank you."

Just as Ron was stepping through the door, a loud crash was heard coming from Jason's and Serenity's room, followed by two high-pitched wails which were clearly identified as the babies in the other room who had woken up from whatever their older siblings were doing.

A simultaneous 'Sorry Mom' was heard coming from the two preens a few doors down.

Kim bit her lower lip as she clasped her hands over her face.

"I'll get them, KP. You stay here and rest," Ron said as dashed down the hall towards his disturbed infants.

Kim brought her knees up to her chest and closed her eyes. She wanted to cry so badly but the tears would not come. If she did not calm down or relax soon, she was going to lose it.


	6. Schoolyard Fight

Anne Jean flicked her hair once more as she continued to look in her compact mirror.

"Hey guys, do you think I should cut my hair?"

Abigail put her hand to her mouth as she put her fork in the grey mystery meat she was given for lunch, trying her hardest to keep her breakfast in her stomach.

"Why do you want to cut your hair?"

"I dunno. For an edgier look I guess."

"Edgier?"

"Yeah. The long blonde hair makes me look too…innocent."

"Whoa. Wanna try rephrasing that?"

"I mean, like…okay, you like…how supermodels how they get all these cool makeovers and stuff. Usually, it's for a more edgier look. To edge them out a bit so they look fierce in their photos."

"Okay, you've been watching way too much _America's Next Top Model_," Johnnie said as he took a sip of his soda.

Angel flicked her hand.

"I get what you're saying, AJ."

"You do?"

"Yeah, and I wanna be edgier too. I want an edgier look. I want highlights."

"Highlights?"

"Yeah. Like some nice, golden brown highlights. Or even some dark chestnut highlights."

"Girl, your parents aren't gonna let you get highlights."

"Maybe not my dad, Abby, but my mom might consider it."

Johnnie started looking around the room.

"Hey, AJ. Where's Jesse? I thought he was with you earlier?"

"He was. But we have different math classes, remember? He has Pre-Calc, I have Trig. Usually he meets me by my locker afterwards but…"

"There he is," Johnnie said as he pointed towards a guy with chestnut brown hair and copper brown highlights entering the cafeteria. He had his book bag in his hand. Spotting the group, he went over to join them.

"Hey, Jesse. What took you?"

"I had to stop by the gym and pick up something," he said as he took a seat next to Angel.

"Do you have it?" AJ asked, a sparkle in her eyes.

"If I do have it, do you promise to put it straight in your locker afterwards?"

"You have it?"

"Okay, what's going on here," Abigail asked moving her hand back and forth between the two, "You have something for little miss diva over here, Jesse?"

"Let's just say I bought something for her and I'm taking a major chance bringing it to school."

"You have it!"

Jesse sighed.

"Yeah, AJ. I have it."

"Yes! Gimmie!"

"Can you wait? I'm risking my neck for you here."

"What exactly did you get her, Jesse?" Angel asked, now interested in what her friend had to say.

"Remember your little trip to the mall that you girls forced me to go to?"

"Nobody can force you to do anything, Jesse," Angel said smartly.

"Angel, I'm not getting into this with you here."

"And it wasn't just us girls there either. Johnnie was there too."

"Oh gosh. Johnnie, were you offended by what I said?"

"Not at all. Continue," he said as he put his hand to his fist, listening with clear interest.

"There see?"

"Jesse, do you have the bikini or not?"

"AJ, will you keep it down. Do you know how much trouble I can get in for carrying this thing around? I had to dodge Barkin like a million times today just because I thought he might suspect something."

"When you walk around looking guilt-written, Jesse, people are bound to suspect something," she said coolly.

"I didn't look guilt-written until I had to look at you, AJ," he said just as evenly.

"Whatever. Can you please give it to me now?"

"Take it out yourself. I'm not touching that thing."

"You had to touch it in order to put it in the bag."

"I wore gloves."

"You did not."

"I did so. I was serious about this being a major boyfriend thing and not a friend thing."

"Here we go."

"Friend thing?" Angel said.

"Don't ask."

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Justin nodded his head to the beat on the track as he parked his car across from his sister's high school. The Oh Boyz may have been out of date but he liked them anyway, just like his father still liked them til' this day. He couldn't help it. There was just something about _Hello Hello Hello_ that poured into your soul and made you feel good.

Pressing the 'park' button in his car after backing up, Justin then went back to adjusting his mirrors. He saw the three red marks on the right side of his neck and sighed. Amber had done it. She broke him. He knew she was up to something when she began that little "Baby-Waby" nonsense. They didn't talk like that. They never talked liked that. Then when she started kissing him, he knew he had to back off. A little red flag when up in his head. He tried talking to her, but the words wouldn't find themselves. So then he tried pushing her off of him. And the look in her eyes sent shivers up and down his spine. She was amorous. He was amorous too, but not in the way she thought. And then came nibbling. Oh God, the nibbling. She was driving him insane. He didn't know if he could fight her much longer and about a second later he couldn't.

She had used the spot. The spot that shot his nerves and left him vulnerable to Amber's attack. Then there was the call he got from his mother about fifteen minutes after Amber coaxed him. He could tell by the time conversation ended that she knew that they were necking. He knew he'd have to call her back later just because he wasn't really paying attention when she was taking to him since Amber didn't cease her attack even when he was on the phone. Needless to say, after they had their steamy little make out session, Amber got him away from his books and to the nearest food joint they could find to get him something sustainable in his stomach. Nothing fancy, just BN like they usually did when they went out with friends, though, he could have lived without her ordering his meals for him. How embarrassing was to walk into a place where you knew thousands of people and have your girlfriend order the whole menu for you and conclude her rash behavior with the infamous "I Know What's Best For You" line?

Justin shook his head as he continued to look at the hickeys on his neck. Was he weak-willed to give into temptation like that? I mean, if a simple peck on the shoulder caused him to give in to Amber so easily, what would happen if she wanted to get more physical and he opted not to? Did he stand a chance?

Clearing his head of those thoughts, Justin looked down at his wrist for the time.

2:25.

He was about thirty minutes early in picking up AJ, but no worries. He could just go inside and pick her up then and there, but then he started thinking he could spend the next fifteen minutes chatting with Mr. Callous to see if he could schedule an appointment with him to talk to his sister again about anesthesiology. Convincing him shouldn't be a problem. Justin was always a good student. It was the scheduling part he wanted to know about.

Getting out of his car, Justin locked it before slowly making his way to the school.

"Stoppable?"

Justin paused. Slowly he turned around to see who called out his name. There was no one in sight. He could have sworn someone just called out his name. Blinking a couple times, Justin started back towards the school.

"Stoppable?"

Again, Justin stopped. He turned back around to see no one there. But the voice seemed to be getting closer. The second call out was definitely louder than the first one. He started towards the school once more when he heard his name a third time. This time Justin was certain. Someone was calling him.

Turning around once more, Justin tried to see if could find his pursuer but still he saw no one. He heard a sinister laugh from behind him and it almost sent chills down his spine.

"Mama's boy, Stoppable. How long it's been."

Justin eyes snapped opened. He knew that voice. That horrible voice. But who it belonged to filled him with a rage he could not explain. Slowly, he turned around to face the person. He saw a slender guy with short jet black hair and gray eyes. He wore a teal T-shirt over a long sleeved black shirt and jeans. He was leaning against the fence a smug grin on his face.

"Justin Stoppable. Sooo good to see you again."

Justin stared hard at the young man before him. He kept clenching and unclenching his fists to try to calm himself down.

"What? I don't get a hello?" he said as he began approaching Justin, "We did go to the same school, remember?"

"Just because you were in the building that didn't make you a student."

"I see you're still as sweet as ever," he said as he got even closer to Justin.

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"That's none of your damn business."

"Still with the cursing, Justin? That really is something you need to get checked out."

The guy now stood a few feet away from Justin, testing his patience that much more.

"Family doing okay, Justy?"

"None of your business."

"How's Kim?"

"My mother's fine," he said evenly.

"Really? Just fine."

"What the hell do you want, man?"

He chuckled dryly.

"AJ doing okay, Justy?"

"Leave my sister out of this!"

Again he chuckled.

"How is she? Has she grown that much since the last time I saw her?"

"My sister's off limits," Justin said realizing where this conversation was going. The man didn't seem threatened.

"With all due respect, _Justy_, I do believe that's her decision."

"After what you and your father did to my family you dare talk about showing respect?"

"After what my father did?"

The two men stared at each other for long while. It wasn't until the man chuckled dryly that the silence was broken.

"Let's get one thing straight, mama's boy," he said getting into his face, "My father didn't do a damn thing to your family."

"Framing my father and putting him in prison for a first degree murder which he didn't commit? That's not doing something to my family? Do you know all the pain and turmoil my family had to go through because of that?…"

"Hey, blame that punk-ass lawyer who put your father behind bars before he really needed to. My dad didn't do a damn thing to your family."

"Oh, you know you're so full of shit, man," Justin said as he began walking away from the demented teen.

"That's right, Justin. Walk away. Cry like the sorry little bitch your mother was and still is."

_ERK! Nerve snapping._

"Excuse me?"

"You hear that, Justin? That's the silence that was in the cell when your deadbeat dad was in jail."

_Nerve snapping!_

"Oh, and do me a favor. When I'm done with your sister, be sure to cuddle with her and let her down gently. I won't be there to see the hurt on her face, but I guarantee you I'll be there hollering when she's ready to scream."

_SNAP! Nerve hit!_

Justin grunted as his fist sent the man towards the hard concrete of the side walk. He saw him picking himself up before spitting some blood out of his mouth and smirking at Justin.

"Okay. Mama's boy wants to fight. I'm down with that. Humph…This'll be fun."

Cracking his neck, the young man took a battle-ready stance as he charged at Justin, ready to do to him what he should have done six years ago.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"C'mon, Jesse."

"AJ, if you want the bikini, take the book bag, it's right there. I'm not stopping you."

AJ crossed her arms as she continued to stare angrily at her best friend.

"So, what were you guys talking about before I got here?"

"Angel wants highlights and AJ wants to cut her hair to take away her 'innocent' look," Johnnie said, using air quotes around the word 'innocent' for emphasis.

Jesse arched his eyebrow as he stared back at his best friend.

"Wanna try rephrasing that?"

"I want a fiercer look. What's so hard to understand about that?"

"Why would you want to cut your hair?"

"I just told you why."

"What would you reduce it to? I can't see you with any kind of short hair style."

"I was thinking more of a Bob."

"A Bob cut?"

"Yeah. I think I can rock a Bob."

"Okay. You have officially lost your mind," Jesse said as he leaned back against his chair.

"Why can't you support me in this?"

"Will your 'rents support you in this?"

"Well…yeah…sure…I mean…why not…"

"You guys hear that?" Jesse asked immediately sitting up.

"Hear what?"

"That. That sound."

Looking around the room, the group saw and heard nothing.

"What sound?"

"The sound of someone screaming."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Justin cried out in pain as he felt himself slam into the windshield of somebody's Ford Fusion. He opened his eyes to see his adversary rushing towards him with a solid right, which he dodged by rolling off the vehicle, causing his foe to jam his hand in the now broken glass.

Grabbing his fist, the man charged at Justin with left hand, which Justin grabbed and threw him to the ground where he landed hard on his back.

Leaping back on his feet, he came back with a roundhouse attack, kicking Justin firming in his stomach and knocking him into a nearby tree, which he cornered him in. He grabbed Justin's arm and twisted it as he held him against the tree.

"Not bad, Mama's boy. But tell me, how is AJ doing? It'd really help if we could bring up some good things to talk about on our first date."

"She's only sixteen!"

"Yeah, and I just turned twenty three days ago. That's hardly a four year difference. But you already know what I'm looking for so maybe we such skip to the chase and have at it, cause from what I hear baby got back!"

_SNAP! Nerve hit!_

Justin didn't know when it happened or how fast he did it, but somehow he managed to fling his foe off of him and had thrown him to the ground—hard, where he skidded fifteen feet away from him with just a simple kick in the gut.

He felt himself being enveloped in Mystical Monkey Power and with every step he took the angrier he got. The closer he got to his foe the more powerful he became.

The guy weakly sat up as he saw Justin approaching him. A vicious grin spread across his face when he saw that his MMP had been activated.

Glancing at the school, he cracked his neck as he stared Justin down.

"Alright, Stoppable. Let's see the true extent of your power."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Guys, how can you not hear that?"

"We don't hear anything, Jesse. Now can you please give me my swimwear so I can have something to wear when I go to Sammantha's party?"

"Who is Sammantha?"

"Jesse you can't honestly be asking that?"

"Jesse, she's in my Biology class and History," Angel said pointing to herself.

"She's in our Art class," Abigail said pointing to herself and Johnnie.

"And she's in our English class, Jesse. How do you not know who she is?" AJ crossed her arms.

"Maybe because I actually pay attention in class and don't just sleep my way through, hoping I can copy the answers and notes from my best friend later on."

"I don't do that!"

"You wanna review the evidence?"

"Jesse, will you just give me the bikini already!"

"Alright! Fine!"

Reaching under his seat, Jesse pulled out his book bag and was in the process of handing it over to AJ when…

"Stoppable! Carlock!"

Once again, the whole table winces at hearing the former Lieutenant's voice booming through the cafeteria.

Both called upon students answered in unison.

"Yes, Mr. Barkin?"

"Explain yourself."

"E-Explain what, Mr. Barkin?" Jesse asked nervously.

Barkin lowered his gazed to match Jesse's.

"The bag, Carlock. Why do you have your bag here in the cafeteria? Bags are to remain in the lockers throughout the WHOLE DAY!"

"Oh, um…well…"

"He was getting me something, Mr. Barkin."

Barkin turned his attention towards AJ.

"Was he getting you a book?"

"Oh…um…well…"

"Um is not an answer. What was he getting you that it required him to take his whole bag here to lunch?"

Both teens were left silent as they couldn't think of anything else to say. They looked to their friends for help, who they shielded their faces with their hands in response.

"Well, since no one can give me a clear answer. I think I'll just have me a little look-see," Barkin said as he took the Jesse's book bag up off the floor.

AJ and Jesse's shared a worried glance. They were sooo dead.

Just as Barkin was opening the bag, a tall skinny boy came rushing into the cafeteria, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Yo, dudes! There's a fight going on outside! Two guys look like they're in it to the death!"

Almost immediately, the whole cafeteria started running around in a frenzy, trying to get to the front of the school to see the fight. Barkin barely had time to scream until he was knocked down from the crazed and excited teens.

"Should we maybe call someone?" Angel said as she examined her vice principal lying down on the cafeteria floor.

"Nah, he was in the military. He's seen worse. C'mon let's see who's fighting," Johnnie said as he too began rushing towards the door with the others.

Jesse grabbed his book bag and placed it firmly on his shoulder before heading out with others.

_Better to be safe than sorry. I do not want to chance him waking up and finding this thing in here._

When they made it outside, AJ was shocked to see these two men fighting so aggressively. Never in her life had she actually seen anything like this. Even though she was old enough, she never went on mission with her parents or with Justin when her parents couldn't go. She just could stand to look at this kind of violence. It sickened her to her stomach.

She felt Jesse vigorously shaking her arm and turned to him staring at her fear in his eyes.

"Oh my God! AJ, that's your brother!"

A cold chill ran down AJ's spine as she heard him say those words. Immediately, she turned her head back to look at the fight and fear filled her eyes.

The strawberry blonde hair. The chocolate brown eyes. The black sports jersey. The blue aura that surrounded him. It was unmistakable.

Her brother, Justin Stoppable was in a fight. And worse, he was he was winning.


	7. Confrontation

Justin aimed a solid right hook into the face of his adversary, before enveloping his hands around his neck and cutting off his circulation. He could feel him dig his nails into his skin as he gasped for air, but for the moment, he didn't care.

"What did you say about my sister?"

"Is that all you got," he said throatily.

"Where do you go off disrespecting my family like that?"

"Your family has always disrespected mine."

"My family has never done a damn thing to you!"

"Don't…waste…your…breath…"

"Justin, stop!"

Justin felt a strong hold on his shoulders.

"Justin, please stop!"

His eyes snapped opened. He turned his head slightly to see his sister beside him, tears, in her eyes. He could feel the pair of hands on his shoulders get stronger as they tried to pull him off of his foe.

"Justin, man. C'mon. It's not worth it! Whatever he did, it's not worth it."

From the sound of the voice, Justin knew it was Jesse who was pulling on him from behind. But he still would not let go.

"Justin, look at him!"

Justin turned around to face his adversary and what he saw made him tremble at the sight. The man's face was a mask of anguish. His eyes were closed, his mouth gasped for air. His arms hung limply at his sides. Fine veins popped up around his eyes and his face looked strained and ashen.

Justin instantly let him go and he fell flaccidly to the ground. His hands immediately flung to his throat as he began chocking.

AJ ran to his side and helped him sit up.

"Are you okay, sir?"

Feeling his breathing return to normal, the young man smiled as he stared at AJ.

"Yeah, I'm fine. A little worse for wear. But uh…nothing broken."

"Really?"

Justin scowled as he shoved Jesse off of him.

"Find another way home from school, AJ! I'm out of here!" he said as he yanked his car door open and within a few seconds, sped off.

AJ sighed as she extended her hand to the stranger.

"I'm so sorry about my brother. He didn't hurt you too badly, did he?"

"No, no. I'm okay. Really. A few scratches never hurt anybody," he said as he got to his feet.

AJ cringed. This man had a nose bleed, watery eyes, and bruises all over his body. His shirt was torn in several places and a blood stain drizzled down his pants.

She began caressing his face.

"Oh, you have a black eye," she said, noticing the purple swelling around his eye.

The man took her hand and removed it from his face, smiling warmly.

"A black eye is not as dramatic as it seems. It doesn't necessarily indicate a serious injury. The fatty tissue along with the lack of muscle around my eye socket allows a potential space for blood accumulation with relatively minor injury. So as this blood is reabsorbed, various pigments are released which are similar to this bruise, lending itself to the extreme outward appearance you see here," he pointed to his face for emphasis.

A smile slowly appeared on AJ's face.

"Wow, you know a lot about prognosis."

"Nah. I just do a lot of reading. My mom knew a lot about that stuff too."

AJ's grin widened. She extended her hand.

"I'm Anne Jean, but all my friends call me AJ."

The man smiled.

"Connor Moke," he said as he shook it.

"Moke? Like that exotic flower?"

"Y-e-a-h. Or, you know like that British rock band."

AJ chuckled slightly.

"I'm not that big on rock."

"Well, maybe I can open up your variety sometime?"

AJ raised an eyebrow.

"Are you asking me out?"

"Maybe."

Again, she chuckled.

"You are something else."

Connor smiled.

"I gotta go. But uh…I'll see you later, AJ" he said, winking as he said those words before walking away. AJ heard the sound of a motorcycle speeding off a few feet away.

Jesse stood next to her.

"What just happened?"

"I don't know…but I think I just got a date," a small smile appeared on AJ's lips as she said those words.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kim sighed softly as she put her head down on the kitchen counter. She was having a very nice dream that involved Ron where her six screaming kids were safely in the care of their parents and AJ was already in college like Justin. She groggily opened her eyes when she saw her oldest child walk through the front door.

She put her hand to her forehead.

"Justin, please don't slam the…"

_Bam!_

Almost immediately, the two youngest additions to the Stoppable clan were wailing through the house once again.

"I got 'em, KP!" Ron called from upstairs.

Justin immediately began to cower as she gave him "The Glare".

"I'm sorry, Mom. You want me to go up there and help?"

Kim slowly shook her head.

"No. Your father said he could take care of them," she put her head back on the counter.

Justin cringed.

"You okay, Mom? I know you've been under a lot of stress lately."

Without moving, Kim spoke.

"I'm fine, Justin."

"Cause there's a friend of mine whose studying psychotherapy and they could probably help you will your postpartum depression…"

"Hey! I am not depressed. I am exhausted." She said, immediately sitting up and glaring at her son once more.

"Okay, so you've got postpartum exhaustion."

"I do not…"

"Mom, you're displaying all the signs. You're sad, exhausted all the time, you're not getting enough sleep, you're easily frustrated…"

"I'm not listening to this," she got up from her seat and took a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"See Mom, you cut me off before I even finished my statement."

Taking a sip of the clear liquid, Kim screw the lid back onto the bottle before putting it back in the fridge.

"Justin, all I need is a few hours of rest and I'll be fine. Where's Annie? I thought I told you to pick her up from school today?"

That scowl that was on Justin's face earlier returned.

"She can walk," he said as he stepped into the living room and plopped down on the sofa. Kim followed him.

"She can walk? Justin, I told you to pick her up!"

"And I couldn't do it. Look Mom, something happened and…I just couldn't go through with it."

"Go through with what?"

Justin drummed his fingers on the armrest of the sofa before getting back up.

"I got some studying to do, Mom. I got this huge chem test next week and I'm really not prepared."

He gave a quick kiss on the cheek before heading over to the door.

"Justin wait, don't slam the…"

_Bam!_

Once again, the two screaming babies were awake from the loud closing of the front door. Biting her lower lip so she wouldn't say something she'd regret, Kim walked back into the kitchen, picking up the breast pump on one of the chairs before heading upstairs to help Ron quiet their youngest children.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Opening the door to his apartment, Justin threw his keys on the counter before taking a seat on his couch, sighing softly. He felt a pair of feminine hands grasp his shoulders.

"Ruff day?"

"Sh'a. I ran into someone I really didn't want to see."

"Old friend?"

"Enemies. I can never be friends with that man."

Unwrapping her hands from around his neck, Amber walked into the kitchen, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"I got to go pick my sister up from the airport. You want any coffee before I leave?"

Justin shook his head resolutely.

"I don't drink that stuff. It'll get me all jittery and junk."

Hearing a knock at the door, Amber went over to go answer it, picking up her coat as she did that. She saw her boyfriend's little sister standing at the door.

"AJ?"

"Hey, Amber," she said as she stepped through the door, "You visiting too?"

"Visiting?"

"Yeah…I mean you're here?"

Amber looked over to Justin.

"You mean she doesn't know? I thought it was just your parents you didn't tell?"

"Didn't tell what?" AJ asked, slightly interested in what she had to say. The gears in her head began to click as realized what was going on.

"Wait a minute…you guys are living together?" She turned to Justin, shock evident on her face.

He only rolled his eyes, covering his face soon afterwards.

"I'm gonna go now," Amber said as she stepped out, closing the door behind her. The shock was still on AJ's face.

"Oh my gosh, you guys are living together?"

"Yeah AJ, we're living together. It's not a big deal."

She crossed her arms.

"If it's not a big deal, why are you keeping it a secret?"

"I'm not. It just never came up," He got up from his seat and began washing his face in the sink.

AJ wasn't convinced.

"Uh-uh. Amber clearly said…"

"What are you doing here anyway? Wait a minute, how'd you even get over here, you don't have a license?"

"I don't but Jesse does."

"That's right. You guys took driver's ed earlier this year." He began wiping his face with a paper towel.

"I'm still taking it."

"I'm not surprised," he said as he leaned up against the counter and folded his arms.

AJ did the same.

"You don't think much of me, do you?"

"I do. I really do. You just see it as arrogance. What are you doing over here?"

AJ walked over to her brother.

"I came to talk to you about what happened at school today."

"I'm sorry I didn't pick you up..."

"That's not what I meant and you know it. Why were you fighting with that guy today?"

"It's not something for you to worry about."

"My brother's caught in fight and it's not something for me to worry about?" she asked, arching her eyebrow slightly.

"No, it's not."

"Justin, come on this is me you're talking to. Connor told me…"

"How do you know his name?"

She gave her brother a look.

"He told me. Right after you flared up on him and drove off in your car?"

Justin chuckled dryly.

"So why are you here again?"

"I wanna know why you powered up your MMP when you were in that fight? Or why you were in that fight at all?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Justin, don't tell me not to worry about it. You could have killed Connor today. You probably would have if Jesse and I weren't there to stop you."

"Would you please stop saying his name," he said, clearly irritated.

AJ paused for a moment.

"Why don't you like him? Did he do something to you?"

Justin put hand to his mouth before answering.

"Yeah, he did something, a long time ago, but he also said some things that got under my skin."

"So he said something horrible about you?"

"It wasn't me he was talking about."

"So he said something about someone else?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Stop telling me not to worry about this! I haven't heard anything yet that justifies what you did."

"What did I do, AJ?"

"You put a serious beat down on somebody because he said some things that ticked you off."

"You don't even know what he said."

AJ flailed her arms.

"Do I really have to know? Will it excuse you for what you did? Justin, with your level of skill, you're dangerous. Not just painfully dangerous, you could kill, especially going up against an untrained opponent like Connor. And all because he said some things that…"

"You…don't…know…what he said," he said, cutting her off.

AJ put her hands on her hips.

"Okay Justin. What did he say? What did he say that caused you to go over the edge like that, since you think that's so important as to how this fight started?"

"I can't tell you."

AJ narrowed her eyes slightly.

"You can't or you won't?"

"You don't understand."

"Make me understand."

When he didn't answer, AJ dropped her arms at her sides, shaking her head slightly.

"You know, I don't get you. You say I'm childish, but you're the one who…"

"AJ, I don't want to talk about this," he said giving his sister a stern look.

AJ rolled her tongue in her mouth for a while before answering.

"Fine. You don't want to tell me, that's fine. You just better pray that Connor's not gonna press charges," she said, opening the door.

"With all the counts against him, he's not taking any legal action right now."

Shaking her head slightly, AJ scowled as she closed the door behind her. She could not believe how her brother was acting.

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Connor Moke didn't have anything to say as he walked into his little apartment. The first he did was head into the bathroom, grabbing a toothbrush to start scrubbing out his entire mouth of that awful cigarette taste. He had actually been trying to quit, but being around his numskull workers, who all smoked themselves, that had proven impossible. The longest stretch he had gone without one was when he was in Australia with his bimbo mother. The woman alone could be held accountable for his addiction with the way she treated him when he was younger. The moment he got home from the airport, he went straight to his room, pulling out a pack and a lighter from his drawer. At least he was twenty now and couldn't hear his mother's incessant rattling about him being too young any more.

The sound of shuffling in his living room let Connor know his workers had come back from daily run-in with the law. After they followed him to the school to make sure he got there without interference from the police, they went on their way. He could really care less about how they spent their days. Just as long as they arrived back at the apartment at the end of day so they could go over their plans.

"How was school?" one of them called out as they sat down in one of the chairs.

Spitting into the sink, Connor began washing out his mouth before heading back into the room to meet with his workers.

"School took an unexpected turn for the worst. But the plan worked. Got mama's boy all fired up and his sister believes that he really did some major damage to my body," he said with a smile.

"Should we begin phase three?"

Connor's smile spread into a full grin.

"Boys, I've been away for a little while. I miss the thrill I used to have when my dad and I used to pull off those capers all those years ago. Let's hold off on the plan for a moment. Right now, I wanna have some fun."


	8. Another Kind of Lie

Kim rested her head on the kitchen counter. This was the first five minutes she had to herself all morning. Ron already told her that he was going to be taking the kids out for the day so she could rest. Had her head not been throbbing she would have vetoed that idea. She couldn't bear the thought of Ron handling six kids by himself. Six young kids at that, four of them extremely hyper and the other two small infants. Even when he said that he got Justin to take the day off from work to come help him, Kim still wasn't comfortable. In her mind that was still too much for them to handle.

Kim felt a soft peck on her cheek and immediately knew it was Ron who kissed her. She would have gotten up to look at him but she was just too tired to move at the moment. Instead, she just talked to him as if she were sitting up and watching him go.

"You're leaving?"

She heard the fridge door close and knew that that's where he was at the moment.

"Yeah, JJ's going to be here in a few minutes and I wanna get everyone ready before he comes."

Kim tried to sit up but her body just wouldn't let her.

"Ronnie, I'm still not sure if this is a good idea."

"Kim, we'll be fine. Trust me." He said as he turned around to face her. He cringed slightly when he saw her with her head to the table.

"You want me to get you some ibuprofen tablets before I go?"

"No. I'm still nursing, I can't take them."

The weak tone of her voice concerned Ron thoroughly.

"Um…KP, do you…"

"I'm fine, Ron. I'm just concerned about you." She finally found the strength to push herself up off the counter and turn around to face him. Looking at her drained, disheveled face, Ron had just become ten times more concerned than he had already been.

"Did you lose weight?" He asked looking her over again.

"I don't know, did I? I haven't really been paying attention."

"Kim, this isn't good. If you're losing weight, then this may be something serious."

"Ron, a lot of women lose weight while their breastfeeding."

"Yeah but only when they're trying. Are you trying to lose weight or is this just happening?"

"I'm fine, Ron." Kim's voice escalated just a bit.

"No, Kim, you're not. You know, Justin was telling me about this friend of his who…"

"No, Ron. I am not going to see some therapist who thinks they know my life better than me."

"Kim, he's not a therapist. His studying psychotherapy. And I actually think it would be good for the both of us if we go see him."

Kim was no longer seated on the stool by the counter but was now eyeing her husband from across the room. That look was also reflected on Ron's face.

"For the both of us? When did you decide not to include me in your decision making?"

"I am including you. I'm thinking about what's best for you."

"I know what's best for me."

"Not if it's killing your body."

Kim's eyes narrowed slightly.

"So now, I'm killing my body?"

The sound of the front door closing let the two parents know their eldest son was there.

"Okay Dad, I'm ready when you are." Justin said as he entered the kitchen. Seeing the troubled look on both of his parents' faces made Justin feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Um…is everything alright here?" He was unsure of what else to say.

Ron never took his eyes off Kim.

"Everything's alright, JJ. Go get your brother and sisters."

Though he was reluctant, Justin obeyed his father and went to get his younger siblings. That did nothing to lower the tension in the room.

"Kim, I was only suggesting that we go see him. I didn't say we have to."

"Good, because we're not going," She said as she crossed her arms.

"Why are you so against it?"

"Why are you so for it?"

Ron crossed his arms as well.

"I think it would help."

"Well, you thought wrong."

"How do you know that? We didn't even try it yet?"

"Ron," Kim put her hand to her forehead. Her headache was getting worse by the second, "I know what's best for me and it's not to go to see some therapist."

Ron chuckled dryly.

"Oh I suppose you would know what's best for you, seeing as how your know-it-all behind almost got you erased from the planet."

Kim balled up her fists as her voice went up steadily.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"And the problem is I shouldn't!" Tears started coming from her eyes. "That was one of the lowest moments of my life, Ron. You don't know how much it hurts to even recall that incident. You don't think I feel bad enough about it?"

"Kim, I didn't say that. I just…"

"Don't." She held her hand up. "Just don't. It obvious to me what you're saying."

"Kim, I just don't want to see you sick like this. I just want to help you."

"No, you want to scare me into helping myself." Kim shook in fury for a few moments. "You don't think I noticed what's happening to myself? I know how bad I look. I know how pale I am. I know I've lost the weight but dammit, Ron, someone needs my attention more than I do."

"Kim, I don't want to see you hurt. You think I like seeing you look so ill? It kills me inside every time I see you throw up even though I know there's nothing in your stomach or when I see the sleepiness in your eyes and know you're not gonna get the rest you need anytime soon. I just want you to get some help. I want my healthy, happy, wife back! I don't know this person in front of me!"

The same tears that were on Kim's face were on Ron's. After a few tense moments, the two of them slowly, oh so slowly, embraced each other as the tears fell from their faces.

"I'm sorry. Kim, I'm so sorry."

"Me too." Kim rested her head on his shoulder.

"How can we fight? We're supposed to be like one person, you and me."

"Spiritually, we're one person, Ronnie, but in the real world, we're two different people. But you're right. Something's wrong, very wrong. We didn't have this trouble when we had our other children."

"That's because we didn't have the stress of having seven kids living under one roof." He said with a light chuckle.

After a few more moments, Kim lifted her head off of Ron's shoulder and looked him in the eyes.

"You better go. Justin and the others are probably waiting for you."

Smiling slightly, Ron kissed Kim gently on the forehead before letting her go and heading out of the kitchen.

"You sure you don't want anything?"

"Uh Huh. I'm sure. You go ahead and have fun."

Nodding his head, Ron left Kim in the kitchen as he made his way to the front door. He saw Justin leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed. He had a worried look on his face.

"Where are the others?"

"Car." He said briefly.

"Babies too?"

Justin nodded his head.

"Okay, Jason and CC, can ride with you, and Veronica and Cindy and the babies will ride with me." He went to go open the front door.

"Dad?"

Ron turned to face his son.

"Is she gonna be okay?"

Ron sighed. "I hope so. I really do."

Justin's lower lip curved down slightly as he opened the front door. Ron followed behind him, glancing towards the kitchen one final time before heading out the door with his son and for the first time in weeks, shut it slowly and gently. He didn't know that his wife had once again resumed her position in the kitchen with her head down on the glass countertop.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AJ put her hand to her chin as she sat back on the bench in Middleton Park.

"Okay Jesse, give it to me one more time."

Sighing once more, the chestnut-haired boy read the question to his friend for the fifth time.

"Give the solutions of the problem in radians. 2sin^2x - 7sin x + 3 = 0, is what you're given to solve."

AJ put her hand to her forehead.

"Okay, the first thing I do is…find the exact values?"

"No." He closed his eyes.

"Okay…I find X?"

"What is X?"

"My…cosine?"

"No."

"Okay, I simplify the left hand side, right?"

Jesse held up his hands before dropping them in frustration.

"How can you simplify the left hand side when you don't even have your values yet?"

AJ slumped down.

"I don't know. Jesse, help me."

"AJ, let X equal sin x. Change your equation into X^2 - 7X + 3 = 0. That's a _simple_ quadratic, with two solutions for X, which is sin x." His voice grated over the word 'simple'. "What is sin x?"

"It's…it's…"

"Oh come on, AJ, I gave you the equation. I even converted it for you. All you have to do is solve."

"I don't know how to solve."

"Look at the triangles you're given."

"I don't know what to do."

Jesse put his hands to his head. He gave up.

"The answer is 1:2 and no solution."

"Thaaanks," she said as she wrote down the answer, "Why is this the answer?"

"Because you're looking for angels that correspond to that sine. One of the values of X has no corresponding angles, which is why you get no solution for one of the answers. For the other X value you get a ratio that corresponds to one of the standard angels. The angel of the right triangle with two legs was 4. The angel of the equilateral triangle was 16, divided by 2 is 8. 4:8 simplified is 1:2. Your answers are 1:2 and no solution."

Jesse's response earned him a couple blinks from his best friend.

"Give me the paper," His hand was extended toward her. AJ happily handed him her paper so he could do the work.

"Thank you, Jesse. You don't know how much this means to me."

"I think I do," He replied, not once looking up.

"It's not that I don't want to know the concepts. It's just that I don't know what to do."

"If you paid attention in class, maybe you'd know a thing or two about simple quadratics."

"You're not even in my Trig class."

"No, I'm in Pre-Calc. I don't have to be in the same class as you to know you don't listen to your teacher." He replied sharply, causing AJ to scowl. "I mean, if you don't know simple quadratics, I don't know how you will do when you guys hit logs."

Jesse handed her back her paper.

"There, I finished."

"You act like I don't try to understand." She said as she took the paper and but it in her Trigonometry book.

"Do you?"

"Of course I do! It's not my fault that everything goes in one ear and out the other."

"No, that would be your short attention span."

AJ crossed her arms.

"You know, you could give me a little credit for trying to learn this stuff."

"Is Barkin gonna give you credit when he finds out somebody else did your work?"

"He's not gonna find out."

"I just know that if he pulls me aside and threatens me with detention, I'm singing like a canary. If I go down, I'm taking you with me."

"Thanks a lot best friend," she said dryly, her arms remained crossed.

The sound of a heavy motor vehicle coming down the road caught their attention and the two teens looked up to see a black Acura MDX pull up in front of them. One of the darkened windows rolled down to reveal the face of the man they had met the previous day.

AJ's face immediately lit up.

"Connor, hi!"

The raven haired man's lip curved into a smile at hearing that familiar voice. He took his shades off.

"Well if it isn't AJ. How've you been?"

"Great. I just finished my Trig homework and I know it's going to be an A."

"Oh please," Jesse said as he crossed his arms. AJ grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him into a fierce hug.

"This is my best friend Jesse. I'm not sure if you met him the other day after school. He's the one who pulled my brother off of you."

Connor looked Jesse up and down for a brief moment.

"S'up Jess."

"Whatever." He turned and looked away.

"I'm sorry, Connor. He's just a bit tweaked right now." She replied, glaring at her friend.

Connor shook his head.

"It's okay. We all get like that, right?"

"I just…well have you seen my brother recently?"

Again, he shook his head.

"Well, I asked because I wanted to know if he apologized for what happened back at the school. But because he didn't I guess I'll do that for him."

"No worries. The wounds healed up quite nicely."

AJ found that kind of strange since the injuries Connor got were pretty severe. But amazingly, he was right. There wasn't a single scratch on his face.

"Justin and I never quite got along. So, the assault didn't really surprise me."

"That doesn't justify what he did and I'm sorry he put you through that."

"AJ, really I'm fine."

"I just wish there was some way I could make it up to you."

Connor's smile widened slightly.

"Well, I am going to this party down in Lowerton. You're welcomed to join me if you want."

"What kind of party is it?"

"A group of kids I met in college are having this party at a teen dance club tonight. It can get pretty wild but I think you'd be okay."

AJ pursed her lips slightly.

"Can Jesse come?"

Connor shrugged.

"Sure. All your friends can. There aren't any restrictions."

"Is there any alcohol or drugs?"

"Not unless you bring them yourself."

AJ paused for a moment before answering.

"Okay, fine. We're in."

Connor smile got impossibly wider.

"Great. You guys can meet me at back here at seven. I'll give you a ride."

"We'll be here."

Connor nodded his head before putting his shades back on and rolling up the window. Within seconds, the black SUV sped off on the road, leaving the two teens standing there alone.

"Are you crazy?"

AJ blinked a couple times before turning to face her friend. She saw Jesse standing there with his arms crossed.

"What?"

"You just agreed to go to a bar…"

"It's a dance club."

"…And with a person you don't even know."

AJ put her hands on her hips.

"I'm trying to show him that we're not hostile like my stupid older brother."

"AJ, you're parents are not gonna let you go to a club."

"It's for teens and they don't have to know. Justin and my father have taken my younger siblings out for the day so my mom can get some rest. We'll be back before anybody knows it." She went about to gathering her books from the park bench.

"We? What do you mean, we? I'm not going with you."

"Yes, you are. I told Connor you would."

"Then chalk that down as another lie. I have to study. That's what we were _supposed_ to be doing tonight."

"You always study. Don't you ever just take a break and relax?"

"When I'm done with my work." His arms were still folded.

"Well, we're going out tonight. We can get Angel and the gang to come too."

"Can't. Angel and Abby went to the school for cheer practice and Johnnie's on a date. We were supposed to be studying."

"Well, we're doing something different." She put her hand to his chin before she started walking away to go home. Jesse followed her.

"And just what do you expect us to tell our parents, more importantly mine?"

"We'll just tell them that I had a last minute emergency meeting at school with the swim team and that you came with me for moral support." She said proudly.

"When will the lies end?"

"When we don't need to use them." She glanced back at him briefly, "Don't blame me. You were the one who started the whole lie thing with the _'we were at the library'_ conversation you had with our parents, when we were really at the mall? And when you bought me that bikini."

"Those were all for your benefit."

"Call it whatever you want. Just meet me back in the park at 6:45. That should give us enough time before Connor gets here."

Jesse stopped walking and left his friend to continue on her way. If he was honest with himself, he really didn't feel comfortable going through with this plan. Lying was bad enough, but something about this Connor guy just didn't seem too right to him.


	9. Emergency

Of more than a sixth of Colorado's population, perhaps half of them were somehow squeezed into Lowerton's newest dance club. AJ, Jesse, and Connor had arrived just before dusk and it seemed it had already been going on for some time. Music was being pumped throughout the building with expensive looking stereo systems. The driving techno music was so loud it was difficult to even carry on a conversation. Many folks were swaying and gyrating to the beat. Those who weren't were either seated at a table drinking, making out, carrying on wild conversations in corners, or outside smoking, which was completely opposite of what their driver had told them.

Jesse eyed Connor warily as he made his way over to the bar in the far back of the room. "Does your friend still seem as trustworthy to you as he seemed earlier?"

"He said the only alcohol here was if folks brought them their selves." They both had to hold a hand over one ear and lean into the other to be heard.

"I don't trust this guy as far as I can throw him. Let's get out of here." He stared for the door but was pulled back as AJ gently grabbed his arm.

"We can't leave. I promised Connor I'd hang out with him and you agreed."

"I said no such thing. You're the one who told the guy you wanted to come down here. I didn't say anything."

"I told him you'd come too."

Jesse smacked his forehead.

"Why do you always do this? Why do you always drag me into doing things I don't wanna do?"

"Jesse, I owe this guy. I have to do something to repay him for what Justin did."

"AJ, the dude said it was cool. You didn't have to do anything."

"But I wanted to."

"Well I didn't." He again started to the door but AJ stopped him once more.

"Jesse, no."

"AJ, I never agreed to come here."

"But you did. You're here anyway so you might as well stay."

Shrugging out of her grasp, he angrily made his way over to the men's bathroom. He push passed a couple who had no shame in displaying their affections for one another for the world.

Glaring at the door, AJ made her way over to an empty table, trying desperately to ignore the gazes from the raucous, beer guzzling, cigarette smoking, pot smoking boys who were staring at her with interest.

Connor smiled slightly as he called out to the bartender behind the saloon who was cleaning a glass with a cloth.

"Hey, Wayne."

The skinny man turned around at the sound of his name. A smile instantly lit on his face when he saw his old friend.

"Hey man. Long time no see." He raised his hand for a high five. "Still making trouble with the law?"

"The law's the thing that's troubled, not me." He said as he obliged his friend with an enthusiastic high five. He took a seat as Wayne started cleaning the glasses again.

"Excuses, excuses. What brings you down here? Thought you had a project you were working on." He asked as he took a shot glass and poured a shot of beer for his friend.

"It's a work in process. Thought I'd take a break and look around to what I missed over the years." He took the shot glass, turned up his nose, then slid it back to his friend. "Beer? Come on man, that's not enough to give me the buzz I want."

"I thought you were holding off on the heavy stuff?"

"What are you, my mother? Give me bourbon."

Wayne complied with his friend's request, sighing heavily as he took the distilled spirit from under the entertainment unit. "What difference does it make? You never listened to a thing that woman told you."

"Damn right. She made no sense. That woman lost her reason way before I was born."

Wayne watched helplessly as Connor chugged the alcoholic beverage. "C, that's your mother."

"Just because she gave birth to me doesn't make her my mother."

"Con…"

"Look man, I'm not about to let you pull me into a discussion about this woman. She never loved me, she never cared for me, she just gave birth to me."

Wayne began cleaning the counter again.

"That's where you're wrong. Your mom did care for you. She did love you. I saw it. Every day, every moment the two of you were together she showered you with love."

"She smothered me."

"But she loved you, man. She…"

"Enough Wayne!" He slammed the shot glass on the unit, "I don't give a damn about that woman. She didn't love me! She never loved me! The only one who cared for me was my father and I'll be damned if I let him leave this earth without ridding him of that slut."

Wayne gaped at his friend.

"C, that's your mother!"

"She gave birth to me. That's all she did. That's all she ever did."

Wayne shook his head disapprovingly. He didn't look up when Connor wet for another shot of bourbon. He didn't feel a damn thing from the first shot.

"When was the last time you spoke to her?"

Connor spiked the shot glass on the carpeted floor. It didn't break. It hit with a dull thud and bounced a foot away.

"The last time I even saw the deranged woman, she was in a hospital bed."

Again, Wayne's mouth went wide. "You didn't."

Connor rolled his eyes slightly.

"Man, I don't have enough time on my hands to hurt the woman like I'd like to. Believe me; I would have taken her out a long time ago if I did."

Wayne sighed heavily as he prepared himself a shot of bourbon.

"Well, look who's calling the kettle black?" Connor chuckled dryly.

Wayne ignored him as he set the shot glass aside. "What're you doing down here anyway, man?"

"I took a little cat out for a walk." He gestured over to AJ, who had stopped gotten up from the table and was standing to the side by her lonesome.

Wayne's left eyebrow arched. "Cat? C, she's more like a kitten. I thought you weren't after these young girls anymore?"

"I'm barely four years older. That's not much of a difference."

"It's enough to know that she's still a minor. You are too in terms of alcohol."

"Like I ever cared for the law." To emphasize his point, he took another shot of bourbon.

"Can't argue with that." Wayne continued to stare at AJ. "C, the girl's still a baby. Why don't you chase after someone your own age? I thought you said you liked the mature, independent girls?"

"That was before they became less mature and more needy. They'll either start demanding money or marriage, or they'll get up and leave without leaving her man satisfied."

"Maybe because they believe in satisfaction after marriage. Face it man, you lead these women on to thinking that you're serious about them. Then you sleep with them; more than once mind you. In a woman's mind, that's damn near a promise of commitment."

"Women think like that, men don't. Plain and simple, I like women."

"Then start spending time with women you like, and stop chasing after these young girls."

Connor exhaled in annoyance. "I'm not raping these women."

"I didn't say you were but leave these teens alone. I'm telling you, her heart's not strong enough to handle it."

He chuckled dryly.

"I don't care that much for her heart. It'll stop pumping by the time I'm done with her."

Wayne's jaw almost hit the floor. "C, you can't."

"I will. Soon as I get her to trust me enough. Then when her little heart's crushed into a million pieces, I'll…"

"What has she ever done to you?"

"It's not what she did. It's what her parents and brother put me through."

Slowly, the gears in Wayne's head began turning as he put two and two together.

"Wait a minute, this girl belongs to the Stoppables?"

"Damn straight."

"Then you really can't go after her."

Connor scowled. First his mother, now Wayne. He wasn't having it. "Man, this doesn't concern you. This is my evil revenge."

"Dude, this isn't right."

"It's not about what's right, it's about what's fair."

"Con…"

"I'm not hearing it." He said, cutting Wayne off. "You should be more concern about your own troublesome behind. Don't act like you're a saint 'cause you know you're not. You're a player just like me."

"I was never quite like you, Connor. If I was with a woman, I didn't do anyone else out of respect for her."

_Here we go with that respect thing again._ "I can remember when you did three girls at a time."

"When I was young and foolish, which I'm not anymore."

"Yeah, right." Connor grumbled. "Wayne, lay off. My mind's already set. My game's already in play. Stop lecturing me."

Wayne suddenly stood straight up.

"Fine man. I'll back off. But you really do need to watch yourself. One of these days, you're gonna mess with the wrong girl. Karma is gonna make you pay for your actions."

"Karma can kiss my…"

"Don't." Wayne closed his eyes in annoyance, causing his so-called friend to smile.

"I forgot. You have a sister named Karma, don't you?"

Wayne continued to ignore Connor as he began rearranging the bottles on the shelves.

"How is she?"

"Man, cut the crap!" He slammed one of the bottles on the counter. "You know damn well my sis is…"

"In a psyche ward?" Connor said finishing his sentence. He saw Wayne's jaw tighten. He turned away from Connor and continued moving the bottles around. "Look man, I didn't mean it."

"Then you should not've said it. Karma may have had some problems but she's still my baby sister. She was all I had when our parents passed away."

"I said I was sorry. I know K and you were close. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry."

Wayne's expression didn't soften one bit. Instead, he leaned across the counter and began playing with his hands. "I'm going back to school."

Connor's face screwed up in confusion. "You're what?"

"I'm going back to school. I've thought about it, and it's time for me to stop letting life pass me by. I can't be a bartender forever. I had dreams, C. It's time for me to fulfill them."

Connor didn't blink. When did Wayne decide to flip the switch on him?

"Are you serious man? College is overrated."

"Aren't you in a class?"

"Not for the reasons you think."

"Let me guess, it's part of _the plan_?" He put air quotes around the last two words.

"Don't patronize me, man."

"C, you're gonna have to find something better to do with your life than girls and capers. Life's more than sex and money."

"When you find billionaire who's as successful as they are and don't have those two elements, you give me a call and I'll see if I can change my ways."

Wayne shook his head once more. He heard a pair of heels clicking on the hardwood floor. He looked up just as a woman with long brown hair framing her face down to her chest sauntered up to the counter.

"Excuse me, does this little one belong to you?" She asked Connor. She gestured to the shy young girl beside her. She had long blonde hair that flowed to the middle of her back. She was currently dressed in a red halter top and mid-rise denim shorts that hugged her thighs.

Connor's smile widened slightly. "Yeah. What's wrong, AJ?"

AJ nervously began rubbing the nape of her neck. "Um…can we please leave? I'm starting to feel a little uncomfortable in here."

"Sure. Go grab your friend and I'll take you home."

"I don't quite want to go home yet. Just out of here."

His smile widened even more. "Alright. Go get Jess and I'll see what I can do."

AJ nodded her head before sheepishly walking away to find Jesse.

Connor stretched slightly before getting up out of the leather stool.

"Later, man." He started for the door.

"Connor."

Connor turned around slightly to face his friend. Wayne had on a mock-serious face.

"Be careful. Please. I'm telling you, this is not the right girl to mess with."

Just then, Connor felt something slid into his left arm. He saw AJ holding onto him, her eyes obviously heavy, as she laid her head on his shoulder. Jesse was waiting impatiently at the front of the building. Smiling to himself once more, he mouthed "Wish me luck" to Wayne before leaving the hazy room.

Wayne sighed softly and closed his eyes.

"You don't need luck. You need a heart." he muttered to himself.

"Excuse me?"

Wayne opened his eyes and saw the same brunette that had brought AJ over to Connor, waiting impatiently for him. He immediately sat up and grabbed a shot glass from below the counter.

"What can I get you?"

"What you got?"

* * *

Kim's body shook as she held onto the rim of the toilet seat with all she had. She couldn't understand why her stomach was so upset or why her head was throbbing like it was. Tears fell endlessly from her eyes, although, aloud, she was not crying. She grabbed her side with her left hand as she felt herself begin to cramp. In all her years of fighting crime, Kim had never experienced internal pain like this. A few bruises and a broken leg once, but nothing as intense as what she was feeling at the moment. She hadn't eaten anything that day, so it couldn't have been something she ate. It couldn't have been noise since the house was silent since Ron left with the kids. She had become so accustomed to her two wailing babies that it almost seemed unnatural not to hear them crying in her house. But that wouldn't explain why her stomach was acting the way it was or why her head was aching so badly.

Kim heaved towards the toilet once more. From the pit of her stomach rose a gut-wrenching wail that tore her throat. She was in such agony.

Suddenly, a wave of pain shot through her head. She felt herself free-falling deep into the depths of a dark, black, bottomless hole and saw no way to save herself.

* * *

Justin slowly opened the front door of his parents' house. He and Ron had dropped his siblings off by his grandparents a few hours ago. They were all exhausted from their morning play and then from their long trek from the amusement park, to lunch at JP Barrymore's, to the newly renovated Upperton Children's Museum. They fell asleep in the car on their way back. Feeling that Kim should get the full rest she deserved, Ron decided to drop the four older ones off by Monique, and then the babies off by Kim's parents. He knew that wouldn't sit too well with Kim but he also had enough sense to know that a quiet house was the best thing he could give her right now.

Justin gave a brief yawn before closing and locking the door behind his father.

"You think Mom's still sleeping?"

Ron sleepily made his way into the kitchen. He took a glass and filled it with ice cubes. "I hope so. She hasn't gotten much rest for some time now."

"It's pretty late, so she's probably asleep." Justin looked at the wall clock in the kitchen. It read 9:30. "Where's AJ?"

Ron opened up a bottle of iced tea. "She and Jesse went to the park to go study. They're probably at the library right now."

Seeing AJ's red book bag beside the television set in the living room, Justin found that highly unlikely.

"You spending the night?" Ron asked as he took out some leftover spaghetti he had made the previous night out of the fridge.

"Yeah. Amber's having a meeting at the apartment with her sorority."

"Why isn't she having it at her apartment?" Ron questioned.

Justin paused. He forgot he didn't tell his parents about their living arrangements. "She's having the place remodeled. She said the kitchen makes her cringe and she hates that her cabinets have so much paint on them. She wants new countertops; new appliances; a new floor. "

"Why doesn't she just move?"

"Dad, don't ask me to try to understand the mind of a woman." He was glad he had thought fast about the apartment. He wasn't quite ready to tell his parents that he and Amber were living together. He'd tell them eventually, just not now.

Stretching until he felt the crack in arms, Justin started out of the kitchen. "I'm going to bed, Dad."

"Try not to wake your mother." Ron replied.

As Justin made his way to his old room, which now belonged to Jason, he crossed the hall bathroom. He pondered on whether he should brush his teeth now, or get ready for bed then do it. The house wasn't filled with his obnoxious siblings anymore, so he didn't have to fight for the bathroom. He didn't have any extra clothes on him either. He'd just strip out of his current clothes, go to sleep, then put them back on the next morning and go home to change and bathe. There was also the fact that he knew that the moment his head hit the pillow, he'd be out cold. He didn't want to go to bed with a foul mouth. He liked feeling clean and fresh when he went to bed, and when he left for class, which was why he usually took two showers a day.

Making up his mind, he started into the bathroom. He went to the sink and turned on the water. With his hands cupped, he splashed handfuls of warm water on his face. He then dried his face and switched on the bathroom light. For a moment, he thought he had to use the toilet but didn't. Reaching for his toothbrush, he took up it up and turned on the water, wetting the brush. Turning the water off, he reached for the toothpaste. It was empty.

Scowling slightly, he put the empty bottle down on the counter. He bent down and opened the vanity doors for an unopened bottle of toothpaste under the sink. Squatting, his eyes scanned through the various cleaning and disinfectant bottles. Spotting the box of _Colgate _toothpaste, he grabbed it and closed the vanity doors. Just as he was about to open the box and proceed to brushing his teeth, he caught a glimpse of something beside the toilet. Slowly setting the red box down, he warily looked over the sink to the toilet.

He was thunderstruck. On the floor, limply lay his mother on the sandstone-colored tile floor. One of her arms lay at the base of toilet while the other lay flaccidly around her waist. Her head bent back unnaturally. Froth was the only thing that was in the toilet bowl but it was obvious to Justin that his mother had been vomiting. But that didn't explain her current state.

Struck silent, Justin stared incredulously at his mother's crumpled body. His head was spinning. He felt like he could barely stand on his own.

"Mom?" he uttered inaudibly. He dropped down to his knees beside his mother and pulled her over onto her back. Her eyes were closed, her mouth slightly agape. There was no color in her face at all.

There was a look of sheer terror in Justin's eyes. His hands were trembling.

"Dad! Dad!"

Ron hurried into the bathroom. His shirt was unbuttoned and his pants were loose, giving Justin the impression that he was getting ready for bed too. Ron was stunned by what he saw. He quickly joined his son on the floor as he took Kim into his arms. Her skin still felt warm, so the worst case scenario was out the window. Lifting Kim's head up, he felt for a pulse. It was there but weak. Grimacing slightly, he got to his feet and started out the door with Kim in his arms.

"Dad, wait!"

Ron abruptly turned around. He saw the tears that flowed down his son's face.

"Justin, get the phone. I need you to call you Monique. Tell her she needs to keep the twins for a few more days. Then call your grandparents and tell them the same thing with Jason and the others. They ask why, you tell them why. Then call AJ and tell her to come home immediately. Then, I want you two to lock the house and get to the hospital immediately. But the first thing you do is call 911." He started down the stairs.

"Dad, what're you gonna do?"

"What I have to do!" He called from the kitchen.

Standing still for a few moments, Justin weakly but quickly made his way to his parents' bedroom. He began looking for the telephone. He hurriedly approached the nightstand and grabbed the telephone. His fingers trembled as he jabbed buttons for 911.

_Riiiing! Riiiing! Riiii—_

"Nine-one-one, what's your emergency?"

"My mother's unconscious! She's not moving! I need an ambulance! Send an ambulance!"

"Sir, please calm down. What's the address?"

"Twelve zero four, One twenty fifth Avenue in Greeley. It's the sixth house on the block."

"Is your mother breathing?"

"Yes! Hurry!"

"Is she conscious?"

"No! I just told you that!"

"Sir, please calm down. Did you find her that way?"

"Yes. Is the ambulance coming?" He inadvertently wrapped his fingers around the cord of the phone.

"EMS is on the way. Sir, what is your mother's name?"

"Kimberly Ann Stoppable. Please hurry!" He jammed the receiver back on the hook before picking it up and explaining to his grandparents and godmother what had happened. By the time he finished talking with them, there was a far-away sound of a siren drawing near. Ron hurried to the front door and flung it open as the ambulance pulled up in front of the house. "Please hurry!" Justin heard his father say from downstairs. He knew he was going to be going with Kim to the hospital, so he didn't bother going downstairs to check on them.

Exhaling loudly, Justin picked the phone back up and began dialing AJ's cell phone number.

_Riiiing! Riiiing!_

"Come on! Pick up! Pick up! Pick up!"

_Riiiing! Riiiig!_

"_Hey, this is AJ. If you leave me a message, I'll call you back. Bye."_

_Beeep!_

"Damn!" Justin cursed as he hung up the phone and started out of the bedroom. The siren of the EMS vehicle got softer and softer as it drove Kim away to Middleton's Hospital Center. Growling to himself, Justin started into the living room and picked up the phone. He began dialing his sister's number again.

_Riiiing! Riiiing!_

"Come on, AJ! Pick up!"

_Riiiing! Riiiing! Riiiig!_

"_Hey, this is AJ. If you leave me a message, I'll call you back. Bye."_

_Beeep!_

"Dammit!" Justin slammed the phone down on the hook.

Where could she be?


End file.
